Into the Blue
by Asche Angel 46
Summary: AU: Fionna expected adventure, craved it even, when she left home. She just didn't bargain for what happened once she was out on her own. At first she thought being a maid on an airship was tough, but then she had to go and get captured by pirates. None of this would have happened if they'd just let her carry her sword with her. Fiolee and established Finnceline.
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: So this particular plot bunny pretty much came out of nowhere and demanded to be written. For those of you waiting for the next chapter to _Who We Are_ I promise, it is in the works and on its way. A more detailed explanation (and an apology) will be found in the AN to chapter 18 of _WWA_. Anyways, enjoy and don't forget to review!

**Disclaimer**: Nope, this is purely a fan-made story. I do not, nor ever have owned _Adventure Time_ or anything affiliated with it.

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When Fionna left home at the tender age of seventeen she expected some adventure; hell, that's what she was hoping for when she left the sleepy little kingdom she had spent most of her life in. She expected a little danger, and if she were being completely honest, maybe she was even secretly hoping for it. She even expected to have to prove herself over and over again because, at least in the Grasslands, a providence of the Candy Kingdom (so named because of the mass amounts of candy the kingdom constantly produces)in the Land of Aaa, girls did not learn to fight and swing swords and shoot arrows. If they were lucky, maybe they learned to use magic (if they showed a talent for it anyway) but never more than what would help them around the home. In short, when she traveled out of the Candy Kingdom and its providences and into the much larger Land of Ooo to the north, she expected a lot more than being a maid on a luxury cruise sky ship. It's not that women weren't warriors in Ooo, in fact Fionna had met quite a few in her first few days in the new land, but no one thought much of the fresh faced young girl with bright blue eyes and long, golden blonde hair. She was a pretty face, sure, but what could she really do in a fight all her potential employers had asked. Eventually, in need of money, food and a place to stay, Fionna took a job on the luxury sky ship, feeling as though she was selling herself short the entire time.

"It's not like I had much of a choice," Fionna grumbled to herself while she went about cleaning one of the upper deck suites. She growled in complaint when the hems of her long skirt got in the way again and cursed whatever idiot decided she couldn't wear pants. Quite frankly, Fionna hated her entire uniform. It restricted her movement and made her clumsy and awkward, something she hadn't been in years. Plus, there was no place to keep weapons discretely; assuming her idiot bosses would let her carry a sword in the first place. "I hate this job," she continued to complain as she picked up after snobs that couldn't bother to do it themselves. "But I had to get out of the Candy Kingdom and no one else would hire me."

The young blonde girl sighed once and looked out the large windows to the glowing bright moon. Usually, the maid service would come during the day but, because of a fancy ball taking place on the bridge deck that night, all the guests had stayed in their rooms getting ready until well into the night. Unfortunately, this meant Fionna and all of her coworkers had to work late that night as well. She scowled and all but hissed at a piece of paper left on the floor, not even two feet from the trash bin. "Lazy asses," she spat as she tossed the paper away and made one last sweep of the room. "Good enough," she mumbled before moving to straighten the beds.

Fionna had just stepped out of the room, moving down the hall to the last one she would have to clean tonight, already dreaming of her own bunk and a good night's sleep, when the lights suddenly went out. She tensed, listening intently to every noise around her. When she heard screaming from the deck above she didn't even think as she turned and bolted for the stairs that would take her up. She spared a moment's thought for the bright pink crystal sitting in her room, but decided not to take the time to go get it when an eerie quiet dominated the bridge deck just a few steps ahead. When she finally burst onto the open air deck, lit only by the pale light of the moon now that the brightly colored strings of lights were no longer on, she saw everyone standing, back to her, facing something she couldn't see. She heard a few whimpers escape from between gaudily painted lips as she forced her way through the crowd, but paid them no mind. She was more determined to see whatever it was that had turned out the lights than bother with the people it had scared.

When Fionna finally forced her way through the milling crowd, a part of her wished she hadn't. Now, the blonde girl was no stranger to weird creatures; she'd seen plenty of odd things on her adventures around the Candy Kingdom. And, she supposed if she wanted to be completely honest, she was familiar with the feeling of fear as well; though she usually just acknowledged it's presence before flipping it the bird and calmly telling it that it wasn't wanted. For the first time in a very, very long time, fear just grinned wickedly at her attempts and dug in its sharp, poisonous claws when she laid eyes on the thing in the center of a frightened ring of guests. Whatever it was, it was massive. Its body may have been covered in dark fur, but Fionna couldn't tell as the darkness seemed to wrap around it like a possessive lover that kept its form mostly in a blur. Except for its eyes; and Fionna would later reflect that perhaps they were what had made her stand, completely frozen as fear coursed its malevolent way through her, laughing harshly at her futile attempts to shove it aside. Its eyes were a burning, fiery red that seemed to bore into her very soul and feed that fear and egg it on. It only got worse when it smiled, showing of rows of razor sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight; more than one person screamed at that point.

It seemed that was all that the creature needed to move. It let out one loud, bone chilling howl before lifting a massive paw and swinging it into the assembled crowd. More people screamed and men and women went flying as the black claws tore into flesh and the wood of the deck. As shrill screams filled the air, counterpointed with the monster's hungry growls, Fionna found herself wishing she had taken the time to grab that crystal from her room.

"And this is why I wanted to carry weapons," Fionna hissed to herself, completely ignoring the fact that really, she wasn't expecting situations exactly like this when she petitioned to carry at least one sword on her person at all times. Growling lowly to herself, she decided to throw caution to the wind and sprinted forward anyway.

"Hey! Ugly!" she called up at the monster, bringing its piercing red eyes to her. "Yeah you," she hissed once she had its attention. "I don't know who let you out of your cage, but I'm sending you back."

The thing growled lowly, crouched low and swung a massive paw Fionna's way. She leapt to the side, tripping when her feet caught on the hems of her skirts. Her arms pin-wheeled through the air for a moment as she tried to catch herself even as she stumbled forward further than she had intended. The monster took the opening to swing its other paw towards her, sending her flying into the railing on the opposite side of the deck. By this point all of the passengers on deck had resumed screaming and only made matters worse by running around.

"Well, that was less than pleasant," Fionna growled to herself as she pulled herself into a sitting position. She rubbed at her aching head and winced when she felt a bump already forming. "Damn dress," she hissed as she eyed the fabric covering her legs as though it had personally wronged her; which, really, it totally had. She looked up sharply when she heard a heavy whistling sound and saw the thing's long, whip-like tail coming right for her. "Shit," she grumbled before throwing herself to the side once more. She landed in a roll and made it to her feet, stumbling once again when her skirts got in the way.

"See, this is why I asked to carry a weapon," she complained to no one in particular, everyone around her too busy screaming and making a general nuisance of themselves. She crouched low as the creature turned towards her, its rows of sharp teeth bared in a sadistic grin. She spared a moment to glance down at her clenched fists and rolled her eyes. "I may as well be trying to fight this thing with a stick of butter." She readied herself to pounce, knowing full well that this would be a very one sided battle when suddenly bright white light flooded the area.

Fionna blinked hard against the sudden overload of light on her eyes before she glanced up. Floating just above their own airship was another, much smaller and leaner ship, the light coming from a high powered lamp on the underside. Fionna could just make out three dark shapes slipping down ropes that had suddenly appeared to land lightly on the deck. Well, one of them landed on the deck, the other two kind of just floated there maybe two feet off the deck's surface. When the light finally cleared enough for Fionna to get a good look at the three new comers she saw two boys and a girl. One of the boys and the girl had a grayish pallor to their skin and both had dark, black hair, though the girl's hair was significantly longer. The girl was wearing skin tight pants, ending in low boots that just barely made it past her ankles and a loose fitting, quarter sleeved dark shirt that hung slightly off of one shoulder. The boy was in dark pants that fit loose enough to allow only a peek of his own shoes beneath the cuffs and a button up, long sleeved, gray plaid shirt that had been rolled up to his elbows and left enough buttons undone to show a black shirt underneath. Both of them had red axes slung across their backs and Fionna quickly zeroed in on the twin puncture marks on both of their necks. _Vampires_, she realized quickly as he attention turned to the other boy. Compared with the other two, his skin tone was normal, if just slightly darker than her own, indicating a life time spent outside under the sun. He was dressed in loose fitting blue jeans with a darker blue t-shirt that only made his impossibly blue eyes stand out even more. Most of his head was covered in a white beanie, though a small shock of bright blond hair peeked out to curl slightly against his forehead. He had an easy grin on his face, completely disarming the fact that he had a blood red sword with a hilt vaguely shaped like a cross slung across his shoulders. Upon closer look, none of the new comers looked more than two or three years older than her, but you could never be sure when dealing with vampires.

"Time to go to work," the male vampire suddenly said and that was all the prompting the three of them needed to blast forward and take over the fight with the creature.

The two vampires kept to the air, diving in and slashing at it with their axes, keeping it distracted, while the boy on the ground darted in periodically, searching for a weak spot to end it quickly. When he finally found one he let out a quick yell of triumph before driving his almost eerie sword deep into the creature right at the base of its throat. The monster screamed once, a horrible, high pitched keening that had everyone scrambling to cover their ears, before the sound cut itself off and the thing disintegrated into a cloud of black smoke; blowing away as if it had never been there in the first place.

For a moment, everyone stood silent, looking from where the creature had been to the three young adults that had taken it down effortlessly. Then, a sudden cheer erupted through the crowd and all of the guests on deck were tripping over themselves to thank the new comers.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the female vampire said, holding up her hands and miming for the crowd to move back. "We didn't do this for free you know."

"As a matter of fact, you probably just traded one problem for another," the blond haired boy added as he stepped up next to the female of the group, a large smirk on his face.

"You see," the male vampire continued, looking almost disinterestedly at his fingernails. "We're pirates and, after watching us take down that thing without even breaking a sweat, I'd say none of you are in any position to argue with that. Now, if you'd all be so kind as to wait here patiently while my partners ransack your rooms for anything and everything of value that you might be hiding away, that would be much appreciated."

No one said a word, too stunned by the turn of events to even consider fighting back. Well, everyone but Fionna anyway. She knew she probably couldn't take on all three, especially since they were all armed and she wasn't, but if she bided her time she may just be able to stand a chance against the male vampire while the other two were away. And who knows, maybe seeing her take up the fight may inspire the passengers to actually help her this time; though a quick glace around had her rolling her eyes in disgust and seriously doubting it.

She waited for a few minutes after the other two had left to make sure they weren't close enough to come running back to help before she made her move. "You know, that's pretty low," she started off, hoping her tone sounded as bored as she was trying to make it. "You come swooping in here to save these people and then turn around and rob them instead. But I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better from a pirate." She heard a few people gasp and a few hushed whispers asking for her to shut up, but she didn't pay them any mind.

"Bold talk from a maid," the vampire boy replied with a smirk. "And just what are you going to do about it?"

"Take you down if I have to," Fionna answered with an easy shrug.

"You've got spunk, I'll give you that," the undead boy laughed. "But that would be very, very stupid of you. You couldn't even do anything against that creature, so what makes you think you can take on a vampire?"

"I'm not as weak as you seem to think," Fionna hissed. "And I'll be more than happy to prove it."

"What's your name, little human?" the vampire asked suddenly.

"Fionna," she answered after a moment. "Why?"

"Well, my name is Marshall Lee, the Vampire King. Do you really think you stand a chance?" he asked again.

"I can try," Fionna growled.

"I like you, little human," the vampire laughed again. "So I'll let you in on a little secret. See, we didn't really save all of these people. In fact, we've been casing this ship for a little over a week. It's just good luck that we turned up when we did. Sure, these people are going to lose some money, but at least they'll still have their lives."

"If all you were after is the money than why bother fighting that thing in the first place?" Fionna demanded.

"Something to do," Marshall Lee answered with a shrug. "And one of my crewmates likes getting into fights and saw this as an opportunity to test himself. Plus, had that thing been allowed to continue, it would have torn this whole thing apart and all the pretty things these people are so proud of would have been lost to the skies and gravity."

"We're back," the other boy's voice rang out over the crowd. Only then did Fionna realize the trap she had allowed herself to fall into. Marshall Lee had kept her talking, kept her distracted, so his crew could finish their job and he wouldn't have to deal with trying to fight her.

"And it looks like there was already another sneak thief on board," the female vampire added, her tone telling that she was amused. "Found this in one of the maid's rooms."

Fionna turned, dreading what she would see, and feeling her stomach drop out when her suspicions were confirmed. The female vampire held a large, pink-ish white crystal just slightly bigger than her fist in her hands. "That's mine," she heard herself saying.

"Was yours," Marshall Lee interjected quickly. "If it ever really was."

"_Is_ mine," Fionna insisted, turning back and leveling the undead boy with a glare. "And you will return it to me now."

"I thought I explained all of this when I told you we're pirates," Marshall Lee responded, an amused smirk pulling at his lips. "_If_ it was ever yours to begin with, it doesn't really matter because it's ours now."

Fionna growled once as the only warning she would give before she launched herself at the floating, undead boy. She aimed a kick to his chest that glanced off of him as he floated away.

"Temper, temper," he chided her, the smirk never leaving his face.

Fionna threw a punch to follow up, not for the first time wishing she had her sword instead; especially when her feet caught on the hem of her skirt again. "I've had it with this thing," she hissed and reached down to take two handfuls of fabric into her hands as she tore most of the skirt away to give her legs and feet room to move. "Much better," she smiled once most of the skirt had been torn away, leaving behind ragged strips to barely cover her legs.

"I'd say impressive, but I've seen better," Marshall Lee taunted her with a quick glance towards her exposed legs.

"Funny," Fionna replied smoothly. "I was just thinking the same thing about you. For a vampire king, you're really not much to look at, are you? You sure you didn't just invent the title to make yourself seem more important?" she added with a smirk of her own.

"You've got a mouth on you, don't you?" Marshall Lee retorted. "Too bad you're using it for something completely unproductive."

"As much as I'd love to keep bantering with you, I think I like the idea of beating you to a pulp much better," Fionna returned, launching herself forward once more. This time she expected the vampire to float out of the way and she used the momentum to spring into a front handspring until she reached a wall. Still keeping her momentum going, she quickly turned mid-spring and used the wall to launch herself back the way she had come. Once again the vampire drifted out of the way, though not before snatching the white bandana off of her head that kept her hair bound and out of the way. She snarled as she landed, even as her bright blonde hair fell around her shoulders and tumbled halfway down her back.

"Well, would you look at what blondie was hiding under this thing," Marshall Lee chuckled. "I've only seen one other person with hair like yours."

"Whatever," Fionna hissed. "Just because you snatched my bandana doesn't mean this fight is over."

"Actually, I think it's about time we got going," the female vampire interrupted as she floated over. "If you're done playing games, of course," she added to Marshall Lee, her arms crossed over her chest and one eyebrow raised.

"Fine, fine," Marshall Lee sighed as he tossed the bandana back to Fionna. "Let's ship out before the authorities decide to get off their lazy asses and show up."

"Hang on a sec," the other boy said as he jogged over, pulling the two vampires with him out of earshot of the crowd. The three of them stood there for a few minutes, talking about something Fionna couldn't hear, though the human boy kept gesturing to her and both vampires glanced back at her more than once. Eventually, the female vampire shrugged and nodded her head, slipping closer to the human boy, both of them looking expectantly at Marshall Lee. Finally, he too sighed and turned back to Fionna.

When she realized he was looking at her, Fionna quickly painted a scowl across her face. At least until said vampire floated over to her and promptly picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She struggled and snarled, kicked and punched, but nothing she did seemed to have any effect on Marshall Lee.

"Well, I'd say this has been fun," Marshall began, addressing the crowd of people. "But I highly doubt you're all that happy about us making off with all of your valuables and now one of your maids."

"What?!" Fionna screeched at that last part. "What do you mean 'one of your maids'? Put me down!"

"See you around," Marshall Lee continued as though he hadn't even heard Fionna. He raised a mock salute of two fingers, a cocky smirk on his lips, even as he floated backwards and up into his own ship.

Once they were within his own airship Marshall Lee promptly dumped the struggling Fionna to the ground. "Welcome aboard the Stratos, Fionna," he said, looking down at her and gesturing around them, his cocky smirk never leaving his face.

"What am I doing here?" the blonde girl demanded, glaring at each of the other three people on board in turn. "Why did you kidnap me?"

"An excellent question," Marshall Lee answered. "Finn? Would you like to enlighten the young lady since this was your idea in the first place?"

Fionna started at the name Finn and whipped her head over to stare at the human boy. Something about the name and the fact that, now that she could see him better, he looked almost eerily similar to her tugged at her memories, but for the life of her she couldn't seem to remember.

"Well Fi," the blond boy began, his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans and his shoulders relaxed, almost slouched. "I'm your brother."

Fionna stared at him for a moment, never blinking and never taking her eyes off of him, before her vision started to grow dim. The next thing she knew, the lights were out and she wasn't conscious to think of a single thing.

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**AN2**: So I don't really think Fionna is the type to faint, but this is an AU and I need a way to end the chapter so it was convenient. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and please leave a review; they let me know if a story is worth continuing or not.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN 1**: Wow, I wasn't expecting people to like this as much as you guys have! It was a pleasant surprise :) Thank you all for the kind reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy this story. I apologize for the wait on this one, I got working on Who We Are, on top of trying to get my graduate school applications in and then I signed up for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest with my original work (wish me luck! :D) so I've been a bit busy. Thank you for your patience and without further ado, but one last word of thanks to all reviewers, alerters and favoriters, please enjoy chapter two of Into the Blue.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing but the plot for this. Everything else belongs to Pendleton Ward and the very smart people at Cartoon Network that picked up the show.

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Fionna didn't come to with a jolt, a jump or even a twitch; she had learned far too much self-control for silly things like that. When she woke up there was a moment of groggy, sleep-hazed confusion, but soon enough that sixth sense she had kicked in and she felt more than heard someone come into the room. It was that same, innate sixth sense that she relied on it to tell her where someone was, if someone was with her even, and perhaps especially, if she couldn't see them and where to move when in battle. It didn't always work, but she trusted it completely and now it was tingling with a warning of someone else coming quietly closer. Faking sleep, she took a deep breath and felt the other person still for a moment even as she slid into a more comfortable position. She almost smiled when she sensed the other person relax and keep coming towards her but managed to keep her satisfaction in. It wasn't until she actually heard the other person step up to her bedside that she made her move. Lashing out faster than the eye could move, she latched onto someone's wrist and yanked even as she threw herself over to get out of the way. Once the other person had hit the bed face down with a particularly loud thump and a startled yelp, Fionna got the her knees, pressing one into the small of the stranger's back while she used the other to pin the arm she hadn't grabbed to the bed. Only after she had the other person completely pinned did she take a minute to actually see who it was. She frowned when she saw the white beanie and tufts of golden yellow hair peeking out, briefly considered moving and then promptly decided against it. Not even Cake got away with sneaking up on her and she wasn't going to let this kid off just because he claimed to be her brother.

"You've got some fast reflexes, sis," Finn chuckled, completely unconcerned with his somewhat painful position. "Who taught you this lockdown?"

"I did," Fionna answered after a brief pause. "Most effective way I've found to pin someone."

"Not bad," Finn laughed again. "But you can let me up now you know; I promise I'm not a threat."

"I don't know that," Fionna replied, surprised to feel a grin stretching across her lips. "You did come sneaking in here after all."

"That's cause he's masochistic," a female voice replied.

Fionna turned her head in time to see the female vampire come floating into her room, a smirk on her face as she eyed the blond haired boy currently pinned to the bed. "I warned you, you know."

"I know Marcy," Finn answered, a large smile on his face. "And as always, I probably should have listened."

"There's no probably about it," the vampire snorted. "So, Fionna, we didn't get a chance to be introduced last night. I'm Marceline, the Vampire Queen, and sister to the idiot you had the pleasure of verbally sparing with last night. Between you and me," she added as she floated just a little bit closer to Fionna, "I wouldn't mind seeing you take him down in a real fight either. If you can pin Finn that quickly, I don't think you'll have much of a problem with Marshall Lee."

"Hey!" Finn protested good naturedly. "I let Fi pin me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night hun," Marceline chuckled back.

"So why are you here?" Fionna asked as she finally let her brother up. "And why are you calling me Fi?" she added with a look at Finn.

"Cause when you were born I couldn't say your name so I called you Fi instead," Finn answered with an easy shrug. "Well, technically I called you Fi Fi, but I didn't think you'd appreciate that as much," he grinned.

"Not really," Fionna answered as she wrinkled her nose before narrowing her eyes at the other boy. "So you're older than me then?"

"Yep, by two and a half years," Finn returned, grinning wide as he popped the "p" at the end of the first word. "I'm your big brother; which means I'm stuck looking after you."

"I see," Fionna responded. "So what happened that I ended up getting raised by a completely different family?"

"Um," Finn paused, the grin faltering and slipping from his face. He looked down at his hands as they clenched tightly into fists and had to force them back open after a moment. "That might be a story for another time sis. Right now, I think we have a lot of catching up to do."

Fionna raised an eyebrow and looked him in the eyes for a moment before shrugging it off. She was used to playing her hand close to the chest by this point and besides, she could always force it out of him later. "So, back to my other question, what possessed the two of you to come wake me up?"

"Actually, I decided to come wake you up," Marceline replied, a large smirk on her face. "But I know what Finn is like when he's startled awake so I thought I'd feed him to your wrath instead," she added with a conspiratorial wink.

"Gee, thanks Marcy," Finn grumbled good naturedly. "I'm really feeling the love there."

"What can I say," the female vampire responded with a shrug and a grin. "I'm twisted and show affection in weird ways, but you love me for it."

"At the moment I'm having trouble remembering why," Finn teased back.

"Look, if you two want 'alone couple time', go for it, but I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to watch," Fionna interrupted quickly.

"Sorry sis," Finn grinned sheepishly. "So, what are you up for today? We'll be landing in the City of Thieves in about two hours so we can always go wondering around there, do some catching up, that sort of thing."

Fionna took a minute to look down at the shredded remains of her uniform before glancing back up at her brother. "I don't think I should really go out in public like this, even if it is into the City of Thieves."

"And that's why I'm here," Marceline replied, floating over to Fionna with a grin on her face. "I've got some spare clothes that might fit you, come on." Without waiting for a reply, the vampire girl touched down to the ground, hooked her arm through Fionna's and practically dragged the girl out of the little room. She led her down a short hallway with closed doors on either side to the last one on the left. Pushing the heavy metal door open, she all but yanked the blonde in before letting the door bang shut behind them. She snapped her fingers twice and light crystals hanging from the ceiling burst into a soft, yellow-white light.

"Closet's over there," the vampire pointed as she went back to floating lazily in the air. "Take your pick."

Fionna hesitated for a minute and Marceline laughed. "I'm not going to eat you. My brother and I don't drink blood, we eat shades of red. Unless you don't like being on a pirate ship," she added with a sly grin. "You did seem rather pissed with Marshall Lee last night."

"Doesn't bother me really," Fionna answered with a shrug. "I don't really care for people that exploit others, but I suppose being kidnapped by pirates is just another type of adventure."

"You sound a lot like your brother," Marceline smiled softly for a moment. "But then I have to ask, why put up the fight?"

"Cause up until I got kidnapped I was an employee of that ship. I may have really, really hated that job, but I still had an obligation to do what I could." She paused for a moment, her head tilted to the side. "Your brother's kind of an ass though, no offence."

Marceline burst out laughing. "None taken," she managed to reply between laughing fits. "That pretty much sums him up right there." She flashed the blonde girl a quick, secretive smirk. "Though we may not be as bad as you think you know. Now, seriously, get your butt over to that closet and pick something out; those clothes sucked before you ripped them up."

Fionna only smiled slightly and moved over to the slated wooden doors and pushed them open. She dug through a pile of clothes in assorted grays, reds and blacks and frowned slightly to herself. It's not that she had anything against the darker colors, but they weren't exactly her. She was about to just give in and snag a pair of jeans and a dark grey t-shirt when she felt something soft and light thump against her back.

"Just remembered I had those," Marceline commented as Fionna turned around to see a blue tank top and a hoodie on the floor just behind her. "They're not really my style, and they're kinda small anyway. They'll probably fit you just fine though. Try them on while I try to find you some pants or something."

Fionna stepped back out of the way and pulled her ruined uniform over her head. The tank fit snuggly, not restricting her movement in anyway and the hoodie slipped on easily right over it. The hoodie itself was a slightly darker shade of blue, except for the sleeves and the hood which were a soft white color. She had just finished zipping up the hoodie when a shorter blue skirt and a pair of black leggings flew towards her. She snatched them out of the air and shimmied into the quickly. The skirt stopped just about mid-thigh on her legs and she walked around for a minute, making sure she still had full mobility.

"Not bad, not bad," Marceline commented. "Not what I usually wear myself, but you pull it off rather well. Shoes!" she added with a snap of her fingers. The dark haired vampire turned back around, digging deeper into her closet before she finally emerged with a pair of black combat boots. "There! Those are an old pair of mine, but they're still in good shape and they hold up really well to just about everything you can think to put them through."

"Thanks," Fionna replied as she slipped the boots on and smiled at the good fit. "These will definitely help."

"So, what do you want done with those?" Marceline asked, pointing to the shredded lumps of cloth sitting by the closet.

"Burn 'em if you want," Fionna answered with a shrug. "I don't care to ever see that uniform ever again."

"Consider it done," Marceline smirked with a vicious gleam in her eyes.

A sudden banging on the metal door had both girls turning towards the sound. Fionna tensed, ready to spring, while Marceline simply rolled her eyes and floated over to yank the barrier open. Finn stood on the other side, a small pout on his face (though he would whole-heartedly deny that he was pouting if you brought it up; weapons of the sharp and pointy variety may or may not have gotten involved if you pushed it and insisted he was).

"You girls coming or not?" he demanded. "I can only hold off eating breakfast for so long you know."

"I'm surprised you even bothered," Marceline teased. "Generally you just walk right into the kitchen and inhale whatever you can get your hands on."

"Today's different," Finn insisted even as a smile replaced his frown. "But that doesn't mean I'll be able to wait too much longer before I do just that."

"Well come on then Fionna," Marceline said with a mock sigh. "If you want to get fed around here you're going to have to beat Finn to the kitchen. Or knock him out along the way," she added mischievously.

"You'd have to catch me first," Finn taunted as he took off down the hallway.

"Never challenge a vampire," Marceline shot back before zooming off after him.

Fionna stood quietly for a moment, blinking after the pair. She allowed herself a small smile and a brief shake of her head as she started off after them at a significantly slower pace. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad; you know, despite the whole pirate thing, but even that didn't seem too terrible.

Breakfast turned out to be a highly informal affair; which is exactly how Fionna preferred it. She was shown were to find what and basically left to grab whatever she wanted for breakfast. She and Finn quickly discovered they shared a love of pancakes and whipped up a batch in no time flat. Fionna had just sat down at the small table, a sizable stack of pancakes topped with some strawberries she'd managed to dig out of the fridge, when Finn and Marceline started snickering to themselves. Fionna rolled her eyes and wrote it off as some sort of couple thing and raised a bite of pancakes and strawberries to her mouth when suddenly another face was floating upside-down right in front of hers. Her blue eyes flew wide and, though she was ashamed to admit it, she jumped back a pace. She scowled and snarled slightly when she realized who it was.

"What the hell?" she demanded while Marshall Lee chuckled.

The vampire boy simply smiled wider, snagged the fork and her hand and brought the strawberry up to one of his fangs. Fionna watched as the color drained rapidly from the fruit, the glare on her face only getting more intense.

"Strawberries, good stuff," Marshall Lee grinned. "Thanks for feeding me."

Fionna snarled wordlessly as she picked the gray husk off her fork. "I wasn't," she hissed. "You hijacked my fork!"

"Meh, same thing," Marshall Lee shrugged in return.

"What are you doing up so late?" Marceline asked before Fionna could throw back an angry retort.

"Kinda hard to sleep with the three of you banging around in here sis," Marshall Lee replied as he floated over to the fridge and pulled out the entire bowl of strawberries.

"You want to come with us into the city then?" Finn asked around a mouthful of pancake. "We usually get the best prices from Grendall if you're there to bargain with her."

Marshall Lee snorted around the strawberry he was currently draining of color before sparing a dry glance the blond haired boy's way. "You're kidding, right? I'm going back to sleep like any sane vampire would," he added with a smirk sent Marceline's way.

"It has nothing to do with being sane," Marceline tossed right back. "You're just lazy."

"Hey, not all of us are hooked up to a living battery to get us through the day," Marshall Lee grinned, looking briefly over to Finn and back. "Some of us poor vamps have to muddle along still afraid of the sun."

"Yeah, yeah," Marceline dismissed with a wave of her hand. "You want us to bring anything back for you?"

"Nah," Marshall Lee replied with a shrug before he yawned loudly. "I'm headed back to bed. Keep it down out here." Without another word the vampire boy simply floated away, back down the hallway.

Fionna glared after him for a moment before shoving a bite of pancake into her mouth.

"He's pretty much always like that," Marceline told her, smiling slightly. "See why I would love to see you take him down in a fight?"

"Speaking of," Finn interrupted. "How did you know I was in your room earlier? I was being pretty quiet about it."

"I just...heard you I guess," Fionna answered after a slight pause, not sure how to explain her sixth sense, or even if she wanted to. Where she came from girls weren't fighters, weren't adventurers and most definitely didn't have any powers like that.

Finn nodded as though it made sense. "That must be your thing then," he said. "Not sure how it'd help in the heat of battle, but maybe you're more suited to stealth. It's not common in our family, but it's not completely unheard of either."

"Huh?" Fionna asked after a confused pause. "What are you talking about?"

"Our family," Finn replied as if it were obvious.

"I was abandoned as a baby," Fionna retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I grew up with a family of cat shifters."

"Really? I grew up with dog shifters!" Finn exclaimed, letting himself get completely sidetracked. "Kinda funny how we'd end up with opposites," he added with a laugh. "But anyway, I meant our human family. Have you ever noticed that almost everyone else in this world has some sort of power? We've got shifters, mages, wizards, vampires," he added with a quick smile at Marceline. "And that's just to name a few. You and me though? We've got no magic, nothing."

"I guess," Fionna answered with a shrug. "Though there was this one time, with this weird wizard that looked like a frog."

"He gave you stars, right? Yeah, I ran into him once too," Finn said. "But the fact still remains, he gave us the power; it wasn't anything we already had or were born with."

"Okay, I get it, but what does that have to do with our family?" Fionna pressed.

"We're not as vanilla as the rest of the world thinks," Finn answered with a secretive smile. "Our family comes from a long, long line of warriors and we're each born with one gift, one thing that's supposed to help us in battle. For example, I remember everything. That's how I learn new forms and new fighting styles so quickly. It's also how I remember what happened when we were little. Generally it's something that gives you an edge when you're fighting, but every once in a while someone will pop up like you that's more suited to stealth."

"Okay," Fionna replied slowly after a moment. "How does that actually work?"

"Dunno," Finn shrugged. "Family legend says that the very first warrior in our family made a deal with some old wizard. He and everyone in his family to come after him would be unmatched warriors but none of us would ever be able to wield magic. The tradeoff was each of us would be gifted with a single ability to help us in battle."

"All right, I'll buy it," Fionna said after a moment, shaking her head. "It makes as much sense as anything else I suppose." She looked away then, wondering how to explain she hadn't heard Finn, but had felt his presence. After a moment she decided no one needed to know and shrugged it off.

Suddenly, three ascending beeping noises interrupted her musings and Fionna looked around, fists clenched slightly, trying to identify the source.

"Relax," Marceline laughed. "That's just the alarm to let us know we're almost to the City."

"I'll go get this thing ready for landing and pull it into port," Finn said as he stood from the table. "Wanna take Fionna with you to get everything we're bringing to Grendall."

"Just try not to crash this time," Marceline teased. "It took forever to repaint that strip you managed to scratch up last time."

"Funny Marcy, funny," Finn shot back, mock pouting at the vampire girl for a minute before a blinding smile stole across his face. "Just brace for impact and you should be fine."

Marceline just rolled her eyes at Finn's retreating form before looping her arm with Fionna's and smiling at her. "Well, wanna help me sort through the loot? It makes you feel rich and I'll even let you slip something you like, I do it all the time," she added with a conspiratorial wink. Without waiting for a response, the vampire girl began to drag the blonde back into the hall, down a short flight of stairs and into the hold. She stopped outside a plain looking door and pressed her palm against a deep red crystal set into the wall. The crystal flashed green twice and the door swung open to reveal a small room packed with a couple of large, wooden chests.

"All right," Marceline began, dropping Fionna's arm. "So you'll take the chests in the back. Leave the coin in there, but any odds and ends you think can be fenced, pull them out and stick them in this bag," she added, pulling a satchel off the wall and handing it to the other girl. "Almost anything can be fenced, but generally gems, jewelry, anything shiny really, will sell better."

Fionna only nodded and pushed open the first lid to rummage through its contents. She grabbed a couple pieces of large, flashy rings, her nose scrunching up as her lips formed a sneer. "These aren't even practical," she grumbled to herself.

"They sell really well though," Marceline laughed back. "You can always count on the people we rob to be vain and have the most expensive things money can buy."

"Most of this is coin," Fionna returned, running her fingers through the glittering bits of gold to see if anything else would shake loose.

"Yeah, we'd already fenced a lot a few weeks ago and this last haul wasn't as big as we were expecting," Marceline shrugged. "No biggie though, we've got what we need."

Both girls suddenly scrambled on their feet, trying desperately to stay right side up, when the ship gave a hard lurch to the left.

"Finn!" Marceline hissed. "I really shouldn't have let him pilot the landing!" The vampire took off running towards the bridge, grumbling under her breath the entire way.

Fionna followed after her, albeit at a slower pace, trying to keep her balance as the ship lurched a few more times. Too busy paying attention to her feet, she didn't notice the door swinging open in front of her and just barely managed to avoid walking right into the heavy metal. As it was, she still let out a shout of surprise as she took a hasty step back.

"Blondie!" Marshall Lee exclaimed, his head popping up around the other side of the door. His hair was tousled and more disorganized than before and he blinked continuously as though trying to keep focused. "The hell is going on?"

"Finn," Fionna answered shortly, trying to navigate around the door in the narrow hallway.

"Marce let him pilot the landing?" Marshall Lee groaned. "We've got to stop letting him do that." The vampire boy yawned widely, his fangs glinting in the light. "Where's my sister anyway?"

"On the way to the bridge," Fionna replied shortly. "And I'm trying to get there myself so either get out here or go back to bed!" she snapped.

Marshall Lee fell silent for a moment, just looking at the small girl in front of him, one eyebrow raised. "Either you have no sense of self-preservation or you're just that daring," he said before a wicked smirk slipped across his lips. "Either way, I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun."

"I wouldn't count on it," Fionna shot back as she finally managed to shove the vampire boy out of the way. "You'd actually have to put up some sort of a challenge for anything to be 'fun' with you."

Without warning, Fionna felt a vice-like grip close around her wrist and found herself being slammed back first against the metal walls of the ship. "Oh, I promise it would be the biggest challenge of your life," Marshall whispered into her ear, his hand keeping her wrist pinned to the wall and the rest of his body crowding hers, leaving her little room to move. She felt his smirk grow wider against her cheek. "One that would leave you breathless and screaming."

Just as suddenly as he'd pinned her, he stepped back, the smirk growing even more pronounced. "Just remember that, Blondie," he added with a wink before he disappeared back into the darkness of his room.

Fionna glared at the plain, dull grey metal of the door, pressing a hand to her chest and willing her heartbeat to slow down. "You wish," she managed to hiss quietly after a few moments. With a final huff, she turned on her heel and stomped off to the bridge. If her face was maybe, kinda, sorta, only slightly red when she got there, at least neither Finn or Marceline felt it necessary to comment on it.

Once Marceline took over, the landing evened out and by the time they docked you wouldn't have been able to tell except the sky had stopped flying by. The three of them grabbed the satchels and disembarked as quietly as possible, though it wouldn't have mattered to Fionna if they'd kept Marshall Lee up while they left.

The City of Thieves was not what Fionna was expecting. Like everyone else, she'd grown up with stories of this place. Only the most foolish, or most desperate, ever went to that dark city. It was a den of thieves and murderers and the second you stepped through the gates into this dark, gloomy city, you shouldn't be surprised to be robbed blind. It was a dark place, where the self-serving scum of society found themselves drawn to and, if you were smart, you would never even set eyes on its city walls. At least, that's what Fionna had always heard. She was not expecting to see clean streets and sidewalks, some lined with small trees and shrubs, all growing cheery and healthy outside of respectable shops like a bakery or a healer's. Of course, she still saw many signs that proclaimed places to be shops for fencing your stolen goods ("Best prices here!"; "Special deals, just for today!") and storefronts claiming to be brokers ("Need information? Need to find a specific item? Inquire within! We'll find it in under twenty minutes or your search is free!"). Many of the people were dressed in stereotypical "thief" fashion, and Fionna saw more than one person with the silver fox tattoo on their shoulder, the mark of being a member of the only real Thieves' Guild run by the self-proclaimed King of Thieves, but she was surprised to see just as many people dressed in plain, day-to-day clothes going about their business as though they were in any other, normal city.

"Not what you were expecting, right?" Finn asked with a grin. "I thought the same thing when I first came here, but I learned the truth quick enough."

"Which is?" Fionna asked, still gawking slightly at how...normal everything looked.

"Everything you've ever heard about this place is a lie," Marceline answered. "Well, almost everything. This _is_ the City of Thieves and the Thieves' Guild is based here, since the King of Thieves rules here," she added, gesturing to a tower in the distance, towards the city's center. "But other than that, all the bad things you've heard are just to keep people away. This is where people come when they have nowhere else to go; people that have been run from their homes for being different or for not having enough money to satisfy the lords that un their villages. These are the people that got saddled with taxes so high that they eventually couldn't pay and it was either run here or be thrown in prison to die."

"But, everyone seems fine," Fionna replied, her head tilted to the side and her eyebrows scrunched together over her nose.

"Because that's the deal," Finn answered with a nod. "The people that come here have two choices. They can join the Thieves' Guild and steal their way through life, or they can run the shops and business and everything else that needs to be taken care of day-to-day the guild members are too busy to actually do themselves. If they're willing to do that, they get to stay here for free and the King will pay out a stipend each month to cover any expenses the people need to cover. That stipend comes from the money the guild members put into the community treasury so it's all very symbiotic. The guild relies on the people to keep them fed, keep the city clean, etc. and the people rely on the guild to take care of them. It might seem odd, but it works. Of course, the tradeoff for them is that if the members are putting money into the treasury they don't have to pay for anything from the shops or healers; the exceptions to that are the fences and the brokers; everyone needs to pay them for their services."

"So you're members of the Thieves' Guild then?" Fionna asked.

"Not quite," Marceline grinned. "You could say we have an...understanding with them though."

Fionna only nodded, looking around with renewed interest. "Why doesn't everyone have a set up like this?"

"Cause people are greedy," Finn shrugged. "Very few of society's elite really care about the people that have to scrimp and save every day just to make it through to one more sunrise."

Flashes of memories from her time on the cruise ship sped before her eyes and Fionna found herself agreeing almost instantly. Had it really only been yesterday that she got kidnapped? It felt like so much longer. She was jolted out of her musings when Finn tapped her shoulder and pointed to a small shop situated between two tall buildings. The storefront was dark and wholly unremarkable; the only decoration was a large gold "G" nailed to the dark oak door.

"This is Grendall's place," Finn announced. "She usually pays us pretty well for what we bring to her."

Fionna followed the pair into a small, dark entryway with a claustrophobic hall leading further back. Marceline and Finn immediately walked off down the hallway, stopping at the door at the very end. Marceline knocked once and stepped back, waiting with a tapping foot until the dark wooden barrier swung open. She quickly swept through, Finn and Fionna right on her heels.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite band of misfits," a raspy voice chuckled out. "I see Marshall Lee isn't with you today, but you have seemed to pick up a new member."

Fionna spun around when the door slammed shut behind her and found herself face to face with a large woman. Her nose was long and sharp, her eyes too big for her face and a few wispy hairs clung to her mostly bald head. A large grin stretched across her thin lips to show off chipped and yellowed teeth.

"Marshall sends his regards of course," Marceline smiled. "But as the sun is up, he regrets he cannot come in person."

"In his own words, he says he is not 'hooked up to a living battery'," Finn added with a grin.

"Well, tell him that can be remedied any time he likes," Grendall replied with a laugh. "He only needs to ask."

"We'll be sure to pass along the message," Marceline answered. "In the meantime, we have need of your services, if that's all right of course."

"Yes, yes, always for you three my dear," Grendall waved dismissively. "Let's see what you've got, shall we?" she added, motioning to the desk in the back corner of the room. The trio quickly placed their bags on the desk and stepped away to give the old fencer room to look. Grendall made a few hums here and there as she dumped out the contents of the bags and sifted through the pieces. "Not a bad haul," she commented, looking intently at a large ruby hanging from a heavy gold chain. "Ah! And what have we here!" she cried, her fingers latching onto a large, milky pink crystal.

Fionna felt her stomach lurch at the sight of the crystal, her fingers twitching with the need to hold it once again. "It's getting a little stuffy in here for me," she mumbled instead to Finn. "I'll meet you guys outside." Without waiting for a reply she quickly darted out the door and out of the shop. Once she felt the sunshine on her face she took a deep breath and tilted her closed eyes toward the sun. She took a minute to breathe before disappearing down the alley to her right.

It was bad luck that she took the time to try and calm her racing thoughts just then. Really, she should have remembered to pay attention to her surroundings anyway. Just because the place looked nice didn't mean it was any less dangerous for her; it _was_ still the City of Thieves and she wasn't really affiliated with the Thieves' Guild or Finn's band yet either. But as it was, she was too caught up in her own thoughts to pay attention to the noises around her or the warning her sixth sense started screaming.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a husky male voice right near her ear said, sending Fionna jumping away from the wall.

Fionna turned to see Marshall Lee standing behind her, umbrella open to block out the sun and the hood of his dark grey hoodie pulled up. His hand was locked around the wrist of another person, the sitting silver fox tattooed to his shoulder marking him as Thieves' Guild.

"Marshall Lee," the thief said as he inclined his head respectfully once the vampire boy had dropped his wrist. "She hasn't been marked; I didn't know she was one of yours."

"She's really new," Marshall replied, a smirk on his face. "We haven't had the time to get her branded yet."

"I wouldn't let her wander too far then," the thief warned as he turned to leave. "Or keep her well within sight if you do."

"Well, that was completely uneventful," Marshall sighed, turning to Fionna with a large smirk. "I would have thought you would have been able to hear him though; I heard what Finn told you this morning. If you can't hear a common pick pocket then I might need to be worried about your ability to keep up."

"I'll be fine," Fionna growled. "I was just lost in thought for a minute. What did you mean about getting me branded?"

"You need a tattoo in the City of Thieves, something that lets them know you're off limits for pick pocketing," Marshall answered. "That's why everyone in the Guild has that fox tattoo. It brands them as members of the Guild."

"I know," Fionna answered. "Marceline and Finn mentioned something similar, but that didn't answer my question of why I needed to be branded. What brand?"

"Our version of the tattoo," Marshall Lee grinned as he rolled the sleeve up on his left arm to expose his shoulder. A standing, grinning fox was inked on his skin. A blade was clenched between its teeth, the hilt wrapped in its tail. "We're not members of the Guild, but we are friends of sorts so we improvised with our tattoo. Plus it just looks cooler."

"But it's covered," Fionna protested. "How would anyone here know?"

"Cause it's not a normal tattoo. We get a witch to put them on and they leave some sort of magical brand that all members of the Guild can see. Apparently it's something they're trained for," Marshall shrugged. "It's not really something we ever bothered with, but it keeps us from being harassed when we're here."

Fionna only nodded once. "If I get this, that marks me as one of you, doesn't it?"

"What, you don't want to be a pirate?" Marshall smirked. "If you leave that will only make it that much more difficult for me to win our little challenge."

"I never said that," Fionna huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to come up with a better retort when she saw the smirk get even wider.

"There you are!" Finn suddenly exclaimed, coming around the corner and saving Fionna from having to appear tongue tied. "Marshall? What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to sleep."

"I did, but you people made too much noise when you left that I couldn't get back to sleep," the vampire boy shrugged. "Besides, it's a good thing I did come wandering out here; your poor little sister almost got pick pocketed."

"It's not that big a deal," Fionna hissed. "It's not like I have anything valuable on me anyway so there's no need to make me seem helpless."

"What else am I supposed to think when I find you staring off into space, leaving yourself wide open?" Marshall taunted, smirking wider at the angry blush that bloomed across the girl's face.

"We'll take her out to get her tattoo today," Marceline interrupted. "We've got it from here Marsh, if you want to head back. Oh, before I forget, Grendall said to tell you all you need to do is ask and you can get yourself a living battery as well," she added with a teasing smile. "She was pretty disappointed you didn't come with us."

Finn and Marceline burst out into uncontrollable laughter when Marshall Lee tugged the hood of his hoodie further down to hide more of his face and began grumbling under his breath. "You three never saw me here, clear?" he demanded.

"I dunno," Finn laughed. "I wouldn't want to disappoint her."

"Whatever," Marshall grumbled before taking off. "I'll be back on the ship sleeping if you need me."

"Hiding is more like it," Marceline snorted, only to grin innocently when Marshall leveled her with an unamused glare. "So, you ready to go get branded a pirate?" she added, turning to Fionna with a large smile.

"Yeah, sure," Fionna answered after a beat, a smile growing across her own face as Finn and Marceline each latched onto her arms and pulled her along.

Later that night Fionna lay awake staring intently at the ceiling, long after everyone else had gone to bed. After a rather long day of being dragged around the city, she found out that the trio owned a small home on the outskirts of the city, close to the airship docks. It was apparently more of a formality since they were friends of the Guild, though they were hardly ever here long enough for the place to be lived in. Finn and Marceline all but dragged her inside the building, shoved her towards a room and disappeared behind yet another door themselves; Finn practically dragging himself across the threshold and Marceline too tired to even float followed right behind him. Fionna felt a grin on her lips when she heard a particularly loud sigh come from Finn as he presumably collapsed on the bed. The need to rest was well earned, as the pair had seemed determined to show her every last bit of the city that very day. She had been surprised, though perhaps not as much as she thought she would have been, when they had made a pit stop halfway through the day at the treasury office and handed over everything they had made from fencing the items.

"We always hand over everything we get from our pirate adventures," Finn had told her with an easy shrug when Fionna had shot him a confused look. "We've got other ways of making money and besides, these people need it more than we do."

Fionna sighed and rolled over on to her side. Despite her exhaustion, sleep seemed to getting pleasure from avoiding her many attempts to catch it. She winced once when her right arm twinged slightly from the magic that had branded the tattoo into her skin, permanently marking her as a member of whatever this was. She reached over and placed her palm gently against the slightly warm to the touch mark.

"Could be worse," she mumbled to herself. "At least people seem to want me here." She sighed once more and finally gave up on trying to sleep as memories and errant thoughts bounced around, begging for attention. She pushed herself out of bed and made her way towards the small living room, leaving her hoodie behind and walking out in a tank top and a pair of sweats Marceline had tossed at her door before disappearing back into the dark depths of her own room. She sat herself in front of the large bay windows and stared out at the night sky, watching the clouds lazily float by the ever blinking stars.

"So, do you make it a habit of not paying attention to your surroundings?" Marshall Lee's amused voice broke through the silence.

Fionna jumped and spun around to toss an angry glare at the grinning undead boy. "Do you make it a habit to sneak up on me?" she shot right back.

"I've been here from the beginning," Marshall Lee returned, his grin spreading. "It's not my fault that you weren't paying attention."

"Whatever," Fionna sighed as she turned back towards the window.

"So Blondie, what's gotten you out of bed this late?" Marshall Lee asked, coming over and dropping himself to the floor right next to the blonde girl.

"Couldn't sleep," Fionna answered, shrugging her shoulder and wincing a bit as it tugged on the tattoo.

"Give it a day or two," Marshall Lee said, gently poking at her exposed tattoo. "It'll stop stinging by then."

Fionna nodded absently and ran her hand across the mark. "It only really hurts if I move my arm too much."

"That tends to be the case," Marshall Lee nodded in return. "So why couldn't you sleep?"

"Thinking," Fionna monotoned back.

"About?" Marshall Lee pressed.

"Things," Fionna said.

"You're not very talkative, are you?" Marshall Lee sighed and shook his head when Fionna only shrugged in response. "I'm not such a bad listener you know."

"I'm harboring suspicions that you're bi-polar," Fionna answered suddenly.

"And where the hell did that come from?" Marshall Lee chuckled.

"Cause you were teasing me and all that junk this morning," Fionna shrugged. "And now you're being, I don't know, nice?"

"I'll have you know I'm a very nice person," Marshall Lee returned with mock severity. "Well, when I want to be anyway, I am still a vampire and we are, by nature, quite evil," he added, flashing her a fangy grin.

"Sure you are," Fionna snorted, finding herself grinning back in return. "And that's why you ran away with your tail between your legs when Finn and Marceline mentioned Grendall was looking for you."

"Hey, that's completely justified!" Marshall Lee protested as he shuddered slightly. "And I wasn't running away. Besides, we were talking about you, not me. You're very good at deflecting."

"And you're not so bad at keeping track I suppose," Fionna replied. "Though I still say you were running away."

"You're doing it again," Marshall Lee smiled, surprising the blonde. "And I won't be deterred. Why can't you sleep?"

"Why do you care?" Fionna asked instead.

"Cause we're stuck in this thing together, we might as well at least pretend to get along," Marshall Lee grinned. "Especially since your brother and my sister generally seem to be attached at the hip most days."

"I was just thinking," Fionna answered after a few beats of silence. "I didn't really expect this when I left. Of course, I didn't expect to end up on a cruise ship as a maid either."

"Left where?" Marshall Lee asked.

"Where I was before," Fionna said.

"Not going to tell me?" Marshall Lee pressed, pouting at the blonde.

"No offense, but I don't know you that well yet, no matter easy you are to talk to," Fionna turned and offered a smile towards the vampire beside her.

"Easy to talk to? You've barely told me anything," Marshall Lee teased.

"Still more than I would have told anyone else," Fionna replied with a shrug. "So, does this mean we're friends now or something and you'll stop picking on me?"

"Of course we're friends," Marshall Lee answered. "You seem like a cool enough chick. But you're delusional if you think that means I won't keep teasing you. I've still got that challenge to win," he added with a wink.

A soft beeping noise had both of them looking up and over to a pale green light blinking in time with the noise on a machine situated on the kitchen counter. "Who would be calling at this time of night?" Marshall Lee grumbled as he floated over to the light and pressing a button situated right below it. The light grew brighter and expanded a bit to form a screen and a girl with long hair and a crown of some sort.

"Bonnibelle, you do know what time it is, right?" Marshall Lee asked before the girl could speak. "Most of you normal people are well on their way to dreamland by now."

"Marshall Lee," Bonnibelle answered curtly. "Are Finn or Marceline available to speak to?"

"Well that hurts, you don't want to speak to me?" Marshall Lee smirked.

"Only in small doses and not when I can help it," Bonnibelle shot back immediately.

"Fine, fine," Marshall Lee sighed. "I'll go wake them up then; let you deal with their charming personalities when they're denied sleep."

"I am sure they can be reasonable people," Bonnibelle informed the vampire boy.

Marshall Lee only snorted derisively as he turned away and floated down the hallway. "Finn! Marceline! Get your sorry butts out of bed! You've got a vid call!" he yelled through the first door on the left, banging the wood loudly with his fist.

The door flew open a second later, Marceline floating in the doorway with glowing red eyes, fangs barred and a snarl on her lips. "Who?" she demanded in a hiss.

"Who else would dare to wake you up this late at night?" Marshall Lee smirked.

Marceline hissed again and shoved her way past her brother towards the living room. "I'm going to rip out her throat the next time she does this," she grumbled.

"Dude, you know I'm easy going most days," Finn said sleepily as he followed his girlfriend out of the room. "But it's still a dick move to wake a guy up with a heart attack and I will not be held responsible for what happens if you do it again."

"No promises," Marshall Lee grinned in return, completely unrepentant as he drifted back into the living room and floated lazily near Fionna.

"Hey PB, what's up?" the blond haired boy asked as he stepped up to be seen in the screen.

"You do know I'm not nocturnal anymore, right?" Marceline demanded sullenly. "I haven't been for a couple years now."

"I am aware and I apologize for the lateness of the hour," Bonnibelle replied solemnly. "I would not be contacting you at all if it had not become a serious problem."

"What's a problem?" Finn pressed, standing straighter. "What's going on PB?"

"Well, we've had some raids from the Goblins up north lately," Bonnibelle began hesitantly.

"That's nothing new," Marceline dismissed. "Goblins raid all the time; it's what they do."

"Well, yes," Bonnibelle agreed. "But only in small groups or as single clans, and never with Orcs backing them up."

"What?" Finn asked. "But Orcs and goblins don't get along; they hate each other."

"Exactly," Bonnibelle nodded. "But the fact remains that these raids are with two or more tribes and there are always Orcs with them."

Marceline and Finn exchanged a quick look, mirroring frowns tugging at their lips, before looking back at Marshall Lee. The vampire boy nodded in their direction before they turned back to the screen.

"We'll be there by morning," Finn told the girl on the screen.

"Make sure you have the necessary people we need to talk to," Marceline added. "We're not walking into this blind."

"Of course," Bonnibelle nodded. "Everything will be ready for when you get here."

The screen disappeared and everyone was silent for a moment. "Well kiddos," Marshall Lee finally said, a wicked grin crossing his face. "Get packed to go; it looks like we're going goblin hunting."

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**AN 2**: So there you have it, chapter two. I realize I threw quite a lot of information at you guys…and this chapter ended up being much longer than I originally planned…but you don't mind, right? I had to lay down a fair bit of groundwork in this chapter to get to the plot, hence the information overload. I tried to balance it out though, so you didn't get stuck reading solid blocks of text, lol. Anyways, leave a review and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN**: You guys rock, plain and simple. Thank you to everyone that took the time to review and to everyone that added this to their alerts/favorites list; it's always gratifying for an author to see their work appreciated. Also, I submitted my original work to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest so chapters may be a bit slower as I work on that (and work on finishing book two of my original work). Also, this is over fifteen pages in Word; never let it be said I don't love my readers, lol. Now on to chapter three!

**Disclaimer**: All I own are the vicious little plot bunnies that have taken root and refuse to leave.

* * *

Fionna had enough time to stuff what little she had with her into a bag before she followed the other three out the door and back to the airship. It felt weird carrying a floppy, mostly empty pack with her when she was used to having a bit more personal affects with her and not for the first time she found herself missing the familiar weight of the blades she had brought with her. She sighed once and shifted her pathetic pack a little higher up her shoulder.

"You and I will go shopping as soon as we have some down time," Marceline promised as they boarded the airship. "It'll give us a good chance to get away from the guys."

"Sure," Fionna shrugged. "So, where are we going? And who was that girl?"

"That was Princess Bonnibelle, though we generally call her Bubblegum. She's the princess of the Ooo's Candy Kingdom, though she's more interested in getting her kingdom involved with science and technology," Marceline answered. "She figures Aaa's Candy Kingdom can handle producing and exporting all the sugary needs for both lands. But anyway, that's where we're headed."

"How do you know her?" Fionna asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion. "No offence, but you're pirates; I wouldn't think you'd be running shoulders with royalty."

"She and I were friends a long time ago but Finn knows her best really," Marceline said. "His adoptive brother is dating B's best friend, or maybe they're married now, I don't know. And we're only pirates when we want to be," she added with a wicked grin. "We're on this thing to be free, have fun, go on adventure and stuff. Being pirates is just a convenient excuse to do that, and maybe have a lot more fun along the way."

"So do you guys do this kind of thing often?" Fionna pressed.

"Sometimes," Marceline replied. "Sometimes we go dungeon diving, raid abandoned ruins, stuff like that. Finn's a warrior and lives for a good fight; I tag along to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Cool," Fionna said, an excited grin stretching across her lips. "I can definitely get behind monster fighting."

"Trust me, if it's bad enough that Bubblegum is calling us, you'll get your fill," Marceline laughed. "Just remember to come back out in one piece," she added as she threw herself into one of the chairs on the bridge. "I'm tired," she sighed suddenly. "It's all your fault, Finn!"

"Mine?" Finn asked. "What did I do now?"

"You made me not nocturnal," Marceline pouted.

"I didn't make you anything," Finn chuckled as he slumped into the chair beside her. "At least not intentionally. I've got it out here if you want to go crash in the room though."

"Yes I do," Marceline decided as she floated out of her seat. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to Finn's forehead. "Thank you," she mumbled just loud enough for Finn to hear.

"Always," Finn replied just as softly as he reached up and gently squeezed her wrist.

"You two are so sappy," Marshall Lee complained suddenly. "I get cavities just watching you sometimes."

"So stop watching," Marceline threw back, smirk on her face. "Sorry to disappear on you Fi, but there's a bed calling my name and it's generally a very bad idea to leave these two idiots on the bridge together. Think you can keep these two in line?"

"Should be easy enough," Fionna answered. "I've just got to keep Finn away from the pilot's seat."

"Hey!" Finn protested over the girls' laughter.

"Lates," Marceline said through a grin. "And don't let Marsh give you a hard time."

"Speaking of," Finn said, arms crossing over his chest as he speared Marshall Lee with his best stern look. "What were you doing up with my little sister so late at night?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Marshall Lee returned, his eyes glinting mischievously and a grin tugging at his lips.

Finn didn't rise to the bait, just furrowed his eyebrows tighter over the bridge of his nose and stared the vampire boy down.

"Nothing was going on," Fionna interrupted before the boys upgraded from an intense staring contest. "I couldn't sleep so I wandered out to the living room. He was already there."

"Just cause you've got my sister going against nature doesn't mean that I'm going to stop being a creature of the night," Marshall Lee grinned.

"Uh huh, sure," Finn replied, one eyebrow raised. "I've got my eye on you," he added, his tone darkening ever so slightly. "Remember that."

Marshall Lee just rolled his eyes at the threat in the other boy's voice. "Whatever, man. Like you could stop me."

"Boys," Fionna huffed when the two of them continued to glare each other down.

"It's an overprotective big brother thing Fi," Finn replied, flashing his younger sister a quick grin. "I'm afraid it's just something you're going to have to live with."

"Really?" Fionna questioned, one eyebrow raised. "Cause if that's the case than Marshall Lee has more reason to be giving you the third degree since there's actually something going on between you and his sister."

Finn had the decency to blush and look away, mumbling something incoherent under his breath.

"I like this girl," Marshall Lee laughed, slinging an arm across Fionna's shoulders. "You've got a quick tongue. I wonder what else it's good at," he added with a wink at the blonde girl.

"Dude!" Finn exploded. "I'm right here man!"

"You'll live, maybe," Marshall Lee shrugged and shot Finn a wicked smirk. "Though it might make it a lot easier for me if you didn't."

Finn growled once and turned to look out the windows. "Some peoples' friends," he grumbled good naturedly.

"Some peoples' twin sisters' boyfriends that brothers have to be nice to or said twin sister will claw their eyes out. Well, try to anyway," Marshall Lee joked back.

"I can literally feel my IQ dropping each second either of you talks," Fionna interrupted with a sarcastic roll of her eyes and a small grin on her face.

"Nah, there's too much awesome in here for your IQ to be dropping," Finn said with a smile. "It's most likely cause it's a guy thing."

"Exactly," Marshall Lee nodded sagely. "I wouldn't expect you to try and figure it out; it's just how bros are, especially when their sisters are involved. Just sit back and try to absorb some of that awesome."

Fionna only rolled her eyes again and sent a look down the hallway. "I wouldn't call it 'awesome'," she quipped back. "And whatever it is has me seriously thinking Marceline had the right idea about getting out of here when she could. There could be a serious outbreak of cooties on the bridge and I'm right here in the middle of it."

"Aw, come on Fi," Finn said, grinning wide and sending a brief glance towards the floating vampire boy. "I thought you'd have grown out of cooties years ago. I guess that's just something we're just going to have to get you used to."

Fionna didn't have a chance to respond before she suddenly found herself sandwiched between both boys. Finn seemed to be trying to crush her in a bear hug with only one arm and Marshall Lee seemed intent on using his own body weight to keep her pinned against her brother. The blonde squirmed around and almost managed to slip out beneath Finn's arm across her shoulders until Marshall Lee casually looped an arm around her waist.

"Don't think so," he smirked at her when she shot him a dirty look. "We've got to get you over your fear of cooties."

"If you're both squishing me then who's flying the airship?" Fionna demanded in an attempt to break free.

"Auto-pilot," Finn replied. "A very handy thing to have when dealing with silly little sisters."

"Silly little sisters that happen to be able to pin you in no time flat," Fionna retorted huffily after giving up on trying to free herself.

"Really now?" Marshall Lee asked, clearly amused as he smirked at Finn over Fionna's head. "No one told me that. You have now gained another awesome point in my books, Blondie. You are now at level one."

"Gee, thanks," Fionna monotoned back with another roll of her eyes. She took a minute to reflect on how often she seemed to be doing that lately and almost smiled to herself, though she couldn't have either boy thinking she was amused. "It's my goal in life to get as many awesome points from you as I can."

"Finally! Someone gets it!" Marshall Lee laughed as he let her go and Fionna was able to wiggle away from her brother. "It's about time someone on this ship recognized me as the badass captain that I am."

"You're the captain?" Fionna asked before letting out a resigned sigh. "I suppose that means we're all doomed then; it's only a matter of time."

"Nah, he just likes to think he's captain cause he's technically the oldest," Finn said with a large grin. "We let him keep thinking that to keep him happy, but Marcy and I are the ones that really run things around here."

"Psh, says you," Marshall Lee retorted as he flipped to float on his back, his arms crossed beneath his head. "Whatever helps you sleep at night man. If I left it to you and Marce, nothing would ever get done around here."

After a few minutes the bridge had fallen silent and Fionna found herself fighting to keep her eyes open. It seemed that now she actually wanted to be awake her body was finally demanding sleep. She frowned to herself and grumpily stared out the window.

"You can head on back to bed Fi," Marshall Lee's voice floated into her ears, jerking her awake. "Despite what Marceline says, Finn and I are capable of keeping us all in one piece."

"At least for a few hours anyway," Finn added as he rose from the chair he had slumped in. "Want some help getting back there? You look almost dead on your feet sis."

"I can make it," Fionna replied around a loud yawn. "You sure you guys are good? I don't want to wake up to alarm bells and screaming."

"We'll be fine Blondie," Marshall Lee laughed as he floated over to her and herded her out of the bridge. "That only happened once. Besides, you didn't get any sleep earlier and that'll be really bad if we're going to be fighting a bunch of goblins and orcs later. Now out!"

Fionna stumbled slightly as she was pushed over the threshold and turned to shot the grinning vampire boy an unamused glare. She sighed once, shook her head and took off down the hall to her room; she was out before her head even hit the pillow.

"So, anyone else thinking we should dump water on her?" Marshall Lee's voice suddenly asked.

"Dude, she was raised by cat shifters!" Finn exclaimed.

"Exactly! Do you know how funny that would be?" Marshall Lee cackled.

"You're an asshole," Marceline sighed.

"No, we established this earlier, I'm a badass," Marshall Lee threw back. "Right Finn?"

"By virtue of the fact that I am dating your sister and I love her I am legally obligated to agree with anything she says if I want to keep my boyfriend privileges," Finn replied. "So in this case, Marcy's got it right."

"You do know that if you want to prank someone it's generally helpful to be quiet when doing it, right?" Fionna mumbled into her pillow. She fought to hold onto the last shreds of sleep, but it managed to dance right out of her grasp and blow a taunting raspberry on its way. No, wait, that was Marshall Lee. Was he really the oldest person on this airship? With a sigh, the blonde headed adventurer sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Now I'm awake and you've lost all element of surprise."

"Doesn't mean I can't still dump water on you," Marshall Lee grinned, all sharp fangs and completely unrepentant.

"Go ahead," Fionna replied as she crossed her arms over her chest and smirked back at him. "Water doesn't bug me."

"Tell you what, let's go see what Bonnibelle wants and then you two can play in the water to your hearts' content," Marceline interrupted.

"We've arrived?" Fionna asked as she finally tossed the bed covers aside and slipped her feet into her boots.

"Yep, been here for about ten minutes actually," Marshall Lee answered as he floated lazily around her room. "You just took forever to wake up."

"Whatever Marsh," Marceline teased her brother. "You totally told us to let her sleep a little longer and wouldn't let us in here to get her up."

"Yeah, yeah," Marshall Lee waved dismissively as he floated out the door. "Let's get this over with then."

Finn and Marceline shared a look, the latter grinning widely while the blond only frowned a bit. The vampire girl looked back at Fionna and laughed, causing Finn to sigh and toss an arm around his sister's shoulder.

"Don't mind her," the human boy told her. "She's insane and it's progressed too far for any of us to do anything about it."

"Hey!" Marceline protested. "No poisoning your little sister against me."

"No worries," Fionna grinned at the other girl. "I find life is much more entertaining when your friends are crazy."

"You've got a sensible head on your shoulders," Marceline nodded approvingly, latching onto Fionna's arm and dragging her away from Finn. "Stick with me and you'll be just fine."

The Candy Kingdom of Ooo was set up much like its counterpart in Aaa, though on a much larger scale. Everything was in almost nauseatingly bright colors and the people were all walking around with cheery smiles and happy greetings (Fionna suspected a lot of it had to do with the citizens being on a constant sugar high; how could you not be when practically every shop you passed sold massive amounts of sugary treats?). Though as they moved closer to the heart of the kingdom the blonde was surprised to see sleek, gun metal grey buildings and people in lab coats hurrying between them.

"PB's big on trying to push science," Finn said as he noticed Fionna's attention sticking with the buildings. "That's actually the best scientific research institute in the entire country."

Fionna nodded and turned her attention back to the soaring spires of the castle situated in the city's center. She frowned and her nose wrinkled slightly at the pale pink color of the stones; she'd never been a huge fan of any shade of pink. The castle itself was large but not exactly looming and full of graceful curves and swooping archways. She supposed that as far as castles go, it looked like one of the more aesthetically pleasing ones.

They were greeted in the courtyard by a shorter man in an impeccably tailored blue suit and a candy cane stripped tie. "Master Marshall Lee, Master Finn, Miss Marceline, thank you for coming so quickly. And who is this?" he asked, gesturing towards Fionna.

"This is Fionna," Finn grinned as he nudged the shorter girl with his shoulder. "She's my baby sister and you won't believe where we found her."

"Well, congratulations on your reunion Master Finn and welcome to our kingdom Miss Fionna," the short man said with a slight bow towards the siblings.

"So where are we headed Peppermint?" Marshall Lee asked. "The sun's up and I'm not keen on being outside longer than necessary."

"Of course, Master Marshall Lee," Peppermint replied with another shallow bow. "If you'll follow me I'll bring you to Princess Bonnibelle."

"So, his name's Peppermint?" Fionna asked as the group followed him through the doors and down the grand hallways. A cursory glance was all she needed to tell her the set up was fairly typical for a castle and dismiss the need to sightsee.

"Nah, Marshall Lee just calls him that cause of his tie," Marceline answered. "He's not really good about calling people by their names if he doesn't absolutely have to."

"I noticed," Fionna replied as Peppermint opened a door and gestured the group in.

"You will find breakfast laid out for you," he said as the four of them filed past. "The Princess will be with you shortly."

"She must really need our help," Finn said when he saw the veritable feast laid out for them. There were large platters of ham, eggs, bacon and even bigger stacks of pancakes placed on top of a long table. Trays of fruits, mostly of the red variety, took up whatever space was left. "She never goes all out like this unless it's bad."

"Hey, I'm not going to turn down a free meal," Marshall Lee shrugged as he helped himself to a generous scoop of strawberries.

"Right behind you," Marceline added as she picked at a pile of cherries.

Finn and Fionna sparred each other a look, shrugged and tucked in to plates piled with a healthy amount of pancakes, eggs and bacon.

They didn't have to wait long for the door to be pushed open once again and a girl dressed in a pink dress just a few shades darker than the castle walls to come walking in, a bright white lab coat covering most of it. Her long hair was piled into a messy bun on top of her head and her glasses were halfway down her nose. "Thank you all for coming," she said as she rushed into the room and slumped into an open chair. She glanced up and frowned at Fionna. "No one told me Finn found his sister. You look a lot alike," she explained when Fionna opened her mouth to speak. "Congratulations," she added to Finn. "I know you've been looking for her for a long time."

"Found her on a cruise ship we raided," Finn laughed.

"I see," Bonnibelle replied. "Well, down to business," she said as she sat up straight and pulled out a thick file from her coat pocket and slid it over the table towards the group. "These are witness statements, battle plans the officers have noticed, everything we could think of. Scouts have tracked them back to where they think they're basing themselves. They've only attacked at night so far so you might be able to sneak in and find out what's going on before night falls."

"You three can handle that," Marshall Lee said after giving the folder a cursory glance. "I've been awake the past couple days and it's not healthy for me. I'll meet up with you at nightfall."

"Yes, well, at least the other three will be on it," Bonnibelle said.

"That works for me," Finn returned as though Bonnibelle hadn't said anything. "We may not even need you on this if we're doing simple recon."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Marshall Lee smirked. "You know you're going to feel lost without me there to hold your hand when you get scared."

"Come on Marsh, you and I both know you'd be using Finn as a human meat shield," Fionna teased back.

"True," Marshall Lee agreed after a moment's consideration. "But only because the world wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't in it."

"What was it you said?" Fionna pretended to ask, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Oh, right, whatever you need to tell yourself."

"I see you've managed to fit right in," Bonnibelle interrupted. "That is good to see; it can be completely disorienting to find out you've got a family you thought lost."

"I'm doing well enough I suppose," Fionna replied with a shrug.

"Well kiddos, we're burning daylight here," Marceline said with a glance out the window. "We'd better get moving if we're going to scout this stuff out before nightfall."

"Of course," Bonnibelle said as she rose from her chair. "Do you need any supplies?"

"Nah, we're set with what we've got back on the ship," Finn answered. "Don't worry PB, we'll take care of this for you. These goblins and orcs will be a thing of the past."

The princess didn't even have a chance to respond before the ever energetic blond boy was bounding out the door, pulling Marceline and Fionna with him.

"So how do you know her?" Fionna asked as the four of them made their way back to the ship to stock up.

"My adoptive family lived around here and when my older brother and I moved out when I was a kid we ended up around here," Finn answered. "I did a lot of odd jobs and went on a lot of adventures for her and we've kept in touch since I left four years ago. She really only calls if there's an emergency and I try to get back here and help when I can. I know most of these people and I like to make sure they're safe if it's within my power."

"Okay, and she doesn't care that she's basically employing pirates?" Fionna asked.

"Actually, she likes to forget about that part," Marceline grinned. "I'm pretty sure she thinks that if she pretends that part of our lives doesn't exist then it will go away."

"But it generally works out well for us," Finn added. "We pretty much have access to whatever we need whenever we're here."

"Well, you psychos can go diving around in caves, I'm going to catch some sleep," Marshall Lee said as he floated ahead of the trio and into their ship. "Try not to get into too much trouble without me," he added to Fionna, a large grin on his face. "I won't be there to rescue our fair damsel in distress this time."

"Whatever man," Fionna returned. "One of these days we're going to have to have that rematch and I'll wipe that smirk right off your face."

"I'll look forward to it Blondie," Marshall Lee winked before disappearing into his room.

"Let me know when you schedule that," Marceline laughed. "I wanna see you smear him."

Before long the trio were headed off towards the nearby mountains to explore the cave systems. Fionna had managed to snag a couple daggers and one of Finn's old swords for the trip. The daggers were sitting at each hip for easy access and the sword was slung across her back. The blade was a dull golden color and the hilt was wrapped in dark brown leather. She had put it through a couple of test swings and though it would work for now, it was balanced all wrong for her and a bit heavier than she was used to. Not for the first time she found herself thinking longingly back to the stuff she had left behind on the cruise ship.

It didn't take long for the trio to get to the first cave and they carefully slipped into its shadowy depths. Marceline seemed to flit from shadow to shadow, only occasionally winking into visibility ahead of the blond headed siblings. For being a self-reported warrior, Finn was surprisingly light on his feet. His lighter colored clothing made him easier to spot than Marceline, but Fionna could barely hear a sound from him as he snuck through the caves.

Marceline suddenly hissed a warning and everyone came to an abrupt halt. The vampire girl placed a finger against her lips and gestured further down the darkness to a distant, flickering light. Finn stepped close and all but pressed his lips to her ear to say something and Marceline nodded back.

"Goblins up ahead," Finn whispered to Fionna. "Be as silent as possible."

The three of them crept slowly forward, Finn and Fionna watching where they placed their feet. Slowly, the distant flickering light grew brighter and all three could soon feel the heat of many fires filling the cave. Before long, gravelly, garbled voices filled the air, all clamoring in a language that Fionna did not know. As they got closer a pungent odor reached their sensitive noses and all three had to fight to keep from gagging.

"Oh yeah, those are goblins," Finn choked out, turning his face away in a vain attempt to get fresh air. "Nothing I've ever come across smells worse."

"What are they even saying?" Fionna asked as she slipped closer to the ring of light.

"My Goblin is a little rusty, but it sounds like they're talking about another raid tonight," Marceline whispered as she leaned in a little closer and tilted her head slightly to turn her ear towards the voices. "They're talking about some sort of overlord I think."

"Overlord?" Finn questioned. "That can't be right; goblin tribes have always remained independent from each other."

"Bubblegum did say that tribes have been working together," Marceline shrugged back. "And that orcs were with them; someone's got to be orchestrating that. Now stay here, I'm going to get a closer look." She motioned for the siblings to move back while she floated up to the ceiling and out of sight.

Finn and Fionna slithered further back into the shadows along the cave walls and hunkered down for a wait. The blond haired boy was just starting to get twitchy when everything went quiet in the open area. Fionna paused, holding her breath, and shot her brother a look.

"What's going on?" she mouthed to him.

Finn shook his head and shrugged before tapping a finger to his lips. He waited until Fionna nodded in return and motioned forward with his head. Carefully, the siblings crawled across the cave floor on their stomachs until they could see what was going on.

Inside the circle of fire light was a large, open cavern packed almost full with goblins. The floor of the cavern was a good four feet below the edge of the tunnel they were hiding in. Fire circles dotted the floor, adding light and an almost oppressive heat to the cavern. Squat, grey-green creatures filled whatever space was available, all of them holding crudely shaped spears and leather hide helmets squished down over most of their lumpy heads. Fionna had to fight back a cough and blink back the stinging in her eyes when the stench hit her. Suddenly, an ear-splitting screeching noise reverberated around the rough rock walls that had the pair scrambling to cover their ears. By the time the noise finally cut off, Fionna was curled into a tight ball, her hands slammed down as hard over her ears as she could get. A brief look over told her Finn wasn't in much better shape.

"The hell was that?" the older boy cursed as he uncurled himself to look back into the cavern below them. Every single goblin had fallen into an eerie silence and turned to face the center. Neither he nor Fionna could see what was going on, but every goblin seemed to be jabbing at something with their spears. "Something's not right," Finn added, a frown tugging at his lips. "Where's Marceline?"

Almost as soon as the question was out of his mouth, the goblin crowd parted slightly and the pair in the tunnel were able to see the dark haired vampire girl bound and gagged, chained on the floor and glaring at every lumpy green-grey creature that came near her. One particularly bold goblin stepped forward and jabbed at Marceline with the sharp point of his spear. Marceline hissed loudly and managed to snap out a leg to knock him off his feet. Before anyone else could react she was on top of the small thing, her arms shifting to grow longer with wicked claws at the end. She had the creature's face shredded within seconds, killing it long before a group managed to grab the end of the chains and pull her away from the bloody mess. Immediately after they had managed to force her down six goblins stepped up to flank her, their spears pressed against her exposed throat.

Fionna barely managed to grab her brother's arm in time before he jumped into the fray. "Wait," she hissed at him.

"Let go," Finn growled at her, eyes hard and unforgiving when he turned towards her. "Now."

Too surprised to do anything else, Fionna released her grip on the blond boy's arm and watched as he all but threw himself into the crowd of goblins. He didn't hesitate to pull out his sword and start swinging; kicking and punching when they got too close for his sword to be affective. He fought his way to Marceline's side, sending the guards around her flying before he sliced through the chains binding her. With a wicked cackle, the vampire girl surged into the air, twirling around Finn once before coming to a stop beside him, watching his back. A wild smirk painted her lips, a stark contrast to the thundercloud darkness in Finn's eyes. For a moment Fionna could only watch as the two began to tear their way through the masses around them. It was almost beautiful, the way they moved so in sync. It was like they moved to a tune only the two of them could hear, driven to move to the deadly dance.

It was lucky really, that Fionna had been watching them for a moment instead of just following her brother down. She saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the orcs slipping into the cavern, sneaking up behind the pair. Fionna dropped the pack she had been carrying and carefully pulled the blade from its sheath on her back before she jumped down into the battle as well. She dodged and weaved through the confused goblins around her, knocking as many as she could aside. The borrowed sword felt awkward in her grip, and a few of her swings went wider than she meant. It took longer than she expected, but she had finally managed to fight her way to her brother and his undead girlfriend. She threw up a hasty block for an orc's sword as it whistled down towards her brother's blond head.

"Might want to watch your back," she commented over the harsh clang of metal on metal.

"That's what you're here for," Finn tossed back, taking a moment to shoot his sister a wild grin. "Just try and keep up."

"We may want to think about getting out of here at some point," Marceline added as she took a swipe at a particularly adventurous goblin with her claws. "Not that we aren't doing well here, but being in an enclosed space won't help us in the long run."

"The way we came isn't an option," Fionna said, growling in frustration when her grip slipped slightly. With an annoyed sigh she jammed the sword back into its sheath on her back and yanked the two long daggers from their places at her hips. "The orcs came in from another tunnel though, that way," she added as she motioned to the black opening in the cavern wall.

"Good a path as any," Finn replied. "There're too many goblins blocking the path back. Marcy, if you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all," the vampire girl cackled before her body began shifting into a large, bat-like creature. She swept one elongated arm through the creatures in front of them, sending them all flying in both directions. She screeched in annoyance when an orc managed to lodge an arrow in her arm before she shifted back to normal. She hissed in the direction of the orc, ready to go tear him limb from limb when Fionna shot by, dragging Finn by the arm.

"Gotta move," Fionna told the other girl as she latched on to her arm as well. "You can tear that guy apart once we have more room to move."

The three of them raced along the tunnels, managing to keep ahead of the screaming hoards behind them. Fionna chanced a look back once and cringed at amount of sharpened weapons aimed their way. "We may want to get out onto open ground soon."

"What happened?" Finn demanded as they ran, weaving from side to side in an effort to dodge any spears or rocks the goblins threw their way.

"No idea," Marceline answered. "One moment I was hiding in the shadows up near the roof, the next something is wrapped around my waist and dragging me towards the ground."

"Did you see anything?" Finn pressed, ducking quickly as a spear went flying within an inch of his left ear.

"Nothing," Marceline replied. "Like I said, it happened so fast I barely had time to realize I was being dragged down before I was tied up and surrounded by goblins."

The three of them put on an extra burst of speed as the red-orange light of dusk painted the cave walls ahead of them. They burst out on a short, rocky slope above a rolling field of grass. Fionna glanced up and saw the slope disappear into a sheer cliff just above the top of the tunnel entrance.

"Looks like our only option is down," she said as she turned her attention back to the plain.

"Then let's get going," Finn agreed. "The sooner we get down there the faster we can be ready."

The loose rocks of the slope had the trio slipping and almost stumbling their way down the side. Before long they could hear the angry cries of the orc and goblin army right behind them and pushed themselves faster.

"We can't take them all," Marceline said as they burst onto the surer footing of the grassy plain. "We're good, but not that good."

"We can't lead them back to the kingdom either," Finn agreed.

Fionna suddenly came to an abrupt halt as a shudder raced down her spine. She didn't know what, but something suddenly felt wrong and she couldn't suppress the chill spreading through her body. Frozen as she was, with her mind racing, she almost missed her sixth sense screaming at her. "Stop!" she screamed suddenly, hoping to halt Finn and Marceline but she was a split second too late. The ground beneath their feet rumbled and a long, thin creature burst from the depths right in front of the blond boy and the vampire girl.

Whatever the dark creature was, it didn't even hesitate as it lunged for Finn, it's maw open wide and glinting with rows of pointed fangs. The boy tried to jump out of the way and managed to avoid getting bitten in half, though one of the sharp fangs managed to bury itself into his shoulder. Finn yelled out and swung his sword at the creature's head, making it rip its head away with an angry hiss the second the blade touched its skin. Marceline and Fionna raced over to the blond boy just as he was pulling a large, broken fang from his flesh. The dark haired girl immediately yanked the sleeve of his shirt out of the way to get a better look at the wound and frowned when she leaned in to sniff it.

"It smells like it's poisoned," she hissed as she bound it with a spare bit of cloth.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with poison. I'm probably immune to whatever it is," Finn returned, a scowl on his face as he looked up at the creature. "The hell is that thing anyway?"

It was vaguely snake-like in shape; with a long, skinny body and a broad, flat head. It's skin was scaled with ebony colored disks, glinting darkly in the waning sunlight. Fionna chanced a glance up and saw a pair of wicked red eyes glaring back at the trio as though trying to decide who to eat first.

"Not again," she grumbled to herself as a panic she's only felt once before raced through her veins.

"You've seen this thing before?" Finn asked.

"No, but I think it's like that thing that attacked the cruise ship I was on," Fionna answered. "They feel the same anyway."

"Whatever it is, we're pretty much screwed," Marceline interrupted. "We're trapped between this thing and the veritable army behind us."

"You know, everyone always told me I was going to die young," Finn joked as he shifted the weight of the sword in his hands, wincing slightly when it pulled on the wound in his shoulder.

"It's not so bad," Fionna replied. "Death's a pretty cool guy."

"I don't know about you two, but I plan on hanging around the world of the living for a while yet," Marceline said. "I wish I'd remembered to bring my axe though."

"Then you're lucky I knew you'd get yourselves into trouble little sister," Marshall Lee smirked as he came swooping in, tossing the red weapon to his sister. "I really can't leave you three alone, can I?"

"Oh shut it," Marceline grumbled. "It's about time you got here anyway. Want to call up an army of our own?"

"With pleasure," Marshall Lee replied, a wicked grin spreading across his lips. "Anytime you're ready, sister mine."

Finn stepped back near Fionna to give the vampire siblings room to work. Their faces contorted slightly; fangs elongating a bit and their eyes going a demonic black with a pin-prick splash of red in the center. Both of them threw their right hands into the air and dark clouds immediately began to gather above them. Lightning flashed across the blackened sky and the wind gusted around them with a chilling, unearthly howl. As the blond headed siblings watched, the ground beneath them began to crack open and boney hands shot out to reach for the jagged edges. Slowly at first, a skeletal army began to drag themselves out of the inky depths, all armed and most wearing some sort of armor. Before long hundreds of undead soldiers put themselves between the approaching hoards of goblins and the four pirates.

"That should keep them busy for a while," Marshall Lee cackled, looking over at the terrified faces of the goblin armies. "Goblins aren't all that bright, but they are very superstitions and the dead suddenly popping out of the ground will keep them in place for a while."

"That still doesn't solve our giant, ugly and scaly problem," Finn pointed out, wobbling slightly before shaking his head and standing straighter.

A harsh hissing sound had all four dragging their attention back to the huge, snake-like creature. "You have only made it easssier for me," it mocked them. "Now I do not need to worry about thossse idiotssss hitting me as I kill you."

"Huh, would you look at that," Marceline said, faking a look of astonishment. "This thing can talk. The last one we killed didn't seem to be able to do more than growl. Bet you're still just as easy to destroy though," she added with a wicked smirk.

"Foolssss!" the thing hissed. "I am Messssethail! I am not to be trifled with!"

"Then stop talking and prove it," Fionna snapped at it. "Cause right now all you're doing is boring me."

Mesethail let loose and enraged hiss and dived for the young girl. She nimbly leapt to the side, lashing out with her daggers as it swept past her. She managed to score a shallow cut, but nothing more with the short blades. She growled in frustration as she jumped away from the lashing tail and jammed the blades back into their sheaths. "I'll run distraction," she called to the group. "There's really nothing else I can do with just a couple little daggers."

"What about the sword I lent you?" her brother asked as he lashed out with his own blood red blade, catching the side of Mesethail's head.

"Doesn't work for me," Fionna replied shortly. "It's too unwieldy." Without another word she darted back into the creature's line of sight, drawing it's attention away from the vampire girl currently digging her axe into its back. She allowed her mind to shut down, everything fading into background noise as she focused on staying one step ahead of the large serpent. She didn't think, just allowed her sixth sense to kick in and move her body accordingly. She dodged and weaved around the striking head and lashing tail with unerring grace, striking back with her little daggers whenever she had an opening. She was so focused on the snake that she didn't even notice the orc standing a few yards off, sighting her with its bow.

"Careful there Blondie," Marshall Lee suddenly chuckled in her ear as he scooped her up in his arms. "You've got a marksman aiming for you."

Fionna jumped slightly as her mind was brought back to the present, twitching slightly in the vampire boy's arms. "Thanks," she said as he set her back down near the offending archer. The orc drew a short sword and charged at her head on. Fionna only rolled her eyes and threw up a block with both of her daggers crossed in an X. She pushed along the block until she was well within the orc's guard and her own blades were almost touching the hilt. "I'd say nice try, but this is pathetic," she grinned at the orc as she tossed the blade aside and lashed out with an elbow to its face. The orc dropped its sword and raised both hands to clutch at its broken nose, giving Fionna the opening she needed to place a solid kick to its head and bring it down to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"I'll take that," the blonde girl added as she reached down and snagged the orc's short sword. A few experimental swings found that the blade was much better balanced for her than the long sword she had borrowed from her brother. She smiled wider as she took the sheath as well and settled it horizontally at the small of her back. "That will do nicely."

"Do you always loot your enemies?" Marshall Lee asked with a smirk.

"Only when they've got stuff worth taking," Fionna laughed back. "Now let's go see about that snake."

Marshall Lee scooped Fionna back up and quickly brought them back to where Finn and Marceline were keeping the giant serpent busy. The creature bled from multiple cuts and one of its eyes had been cut in two, leaving it blind on it's right side. Finn was breathing a little heavier than normal, though a huge smile tugged at his face as he idly scratched at some dried blood on his cheek.

"Dude, I think this one's even easier," Finn grinned. "Whoever said snakes were tricky and slippery clearly lied."

"Then why isn't it dead?" Marshall Lee asked, smirking at the blond headed boy.

"I will not be ignored!" Mesethail roared, diving for the group once more and scattering them. He whipped his tail from side to side to keep them running around.

"Okay, maybe I spoke too soon," Finn admitted as he ducked under the snake's tail.

"Somebody take off this bastard's head or something?" Marceline growled. "He's getting annoying."

"If you and Marshall can hold him down Fi and I can take care of that," Finn replied.

"On it," Marceline laughed before shifting into her giant bat form, Marshall Lee following her example.

The two vampires dived onto the snake, pinning it to the ground. Marshall Lee reached forward and yanked Mesethail's mouth open. "Get it's brain," he growled.

Fionna and Finn wasted no time in diving into the snake's mouth and stabbing their blades deep into the soft palate of the creature's mouth. Mesethail screamed loudly as the odd, greenish tinted blood pooled from the new wound. The blond siblings leapt from its mouth, covered in blood, as Mesethail thrashed around wildly.

"I…am not…the lasssst," he hissed. "Our Masssster will sssssummon more. We will rule all." Just as the first creature had done, Mesethail burst into a shower of ash and dust.

The four pirates looked on as the snake's one good eye rolled back into his head and the gigantic creature collapsed, finally no longer moving. A quick look over showed that the skeletal army had successfully routed the goblins, sending the smaller creatures running off. Marshall Lee and Marceline gave their undead army a quick thank you before dismissing them.

"What do you think he meant?" Fionna asked as she shoved her newly acquired blade into its sheath.

"No idea," Marshall Lee shrugged, unconcerned. "Bubblegum might know, she's kind of a bookworm."

"Either way, I could seriously use a bath," the blonde girl sad, wrinkling her nose as she lifted her arms and glanced down at the blood and grime covering her. "What about you bro?"

"Eh, I've been covered in worse," Finn grinned before he wobbled again and fell to the ground, his hand pressed against his forehead. "Whoa, that was weird."

"You okay?" Marceline asked, flying in close to her boyfriend.

"Yeah, just dizzy for a second," Finn answered as he shook his head as though to clear it. "Hey Marcy? Why does the world suddenly look like a kaleidoscope?"

"Finn!" Marceline called, catching the blond haired boy before he fell back completely. "We have to get back, now!" She didn't wait for the other two, she simply scooped Finn up and took off in the direction of the castle.

"What happened?" Marshall Lee asked, looking after the quickly disappearing form of his sister.

"The snake got a fang in Finn's shoulder," Fionna replied, her hands clenching and unclenching in front of her. "Marceline said it was poisoned when she field dressed it."

"And she still let Finn fight?" the male vampire pressed.

"Finn said he was fine," Fionna said as he voice caught slightly. "He said he'd dealt with poisons before."

"Well yeah, but we don't even know what that thing was," Marshall Lee sighed, gesturing to the slightly scorched spot where the huge snake had fallen. "We'd better get back there quick," he added as he picked Fionna up. "Marce can get pretty territorial, even if she knows Finn needs help."

By the time the other two made it back to the castle, Finn and Marceline were both hooked up to monitors and lying motionless in stark white hospital beds. Finn's shirt had been removed and a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, though it was already beginning to stain red.

"What happened?" Marshall Lee demanded the instant he saw his sister.

"It went about as well as one can expect," Bonnibelle answered with a tired sigh. "Especially since we don't know what's going on. At least they're both stable, for now."

"That really doesn't answer my question," Marshall Lee pressed, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "My sister was fine so why is she out cold now?"

"She brought Finn in and demanded we look at him," Bonnibelle said. "She'd told us what had happened and I immediately went to get a sample from the wound sight for testing, but when I touched that mark on his arm, she flipped," the princess added, motioning to the blood red, intricately woven band twisting around Finn's upper arm. "She hissed rather threateningly and tossed me away. She wouldn't let anyone near Finn after that until we told her that if we didn't look at him soon he would most certainly die. He was already quite pale and cold when she brought him in and the heart monitor we'd managed to hook up was beginning to beep at a rather alarming rate. The nest thing we know, she's dragging another bed over right next to his, lying down in it and then she's out and Finn is stabilizing. We tried waking her, to let her know, but nothing would rouse her."

"Yeah, I'd imagine not," Marshall Lee returned as he ran a hand through his hair. "She's not going to wake up until Finn is better, so I'd get working on that as fast as possible if I were you."

"Perhaps if we knew what happened to her we could better treat her," Bonnibelle pressed.

"It's not something you treat," Marshall Lee snapped. "Look, all I can say is she did it to herself, it helps Finn and she's not going to wake up until you get him better."

The Candy Kingdom princess looked as if she'd argue for a moment, but thought better of it when Marshall Lee sent her a particularly nasty glare. "Very well," she sniffed. 'I shall want answers though."

"Whether or not you get any is entirely up to them," Marshall Lee told her, motioning to the two unconscious figures. "Now is there a place Fi and I can go to clean up? I doubt it's all that healthy for either of us to have that snake thing's blood on us for very long."

"Yes, of course," Bonnibelle replied dismissively, already distracted by the vial of blood she'd managed to take from Finn's wound. "I'll have Percy show you to some unused rooms and have your things taken to be cleaned."

Fionna didn't have time to ask who Percy was before Peppermint was suddenly standing in front of them, ready to lead the way. She took one last look over at her brother, bit her lip and followed the shorter man out the door. He'd be okay, right? The princess had said he was stable…even if she didn't know what was wrong in the first place.

* * *

**AN2**: I know it's mean to leave it on a cliff hanger with a lot more questions than answers, but that's kind of the way I write, lol. Hey, at least you guys got almost twenty pages out of the deal, lol. As always, please review and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**AN**: Seriously, this idea won't let me rest. Apparently, this particular plot bunny is quite vicious and has decided that it is going to get written. Not that you guys are complaining, I'm sure, lol.

**Disclaimer**: Nope, I only own the ideas in my head.

* * *

Fionna wasn't really all that surprised when she couldn't get to sleep that night; annoyed sure, but not surprised. She and Marshall Lee had been shuffled out of the hospital wing and to a suite of rooms nearby. They were quickly assured that their clothes would be taken care of and someone would be in shortly to draw them both baths. The pair had stood around awkwardly for maybe three minutes when a few maids came waltzing in and all but shoved the blonde girl off towards one of the bathrooms. Now, almost two hours later, Fionna was lying in a huge, fluffy bed, squeaky clean and her normal clothes were hanging up to dry. And yet, she thought with a tired sigh, she just couldn't fall asleep.

"This really sucks," she grumbled to herself as she got out of bed. Someone had been nice enough to gather her things from the airship so at least she was relatively comfortable, and the bed was probably the best she'd ever sleep on, and yet the Sandman refused to come. "Two nights in a row is not cool."

The blonde haired adventurer wandered out into the connected living space and plopped onto the couch. She rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, sighing once more as she stared off out the large bay window towards the glittering stars above.

"If you're not careful, people will start to think I've turned you into a vampire," Marshall Lee joked, taking a seat next to the girl and feeling a little put out that she didn't even twitch in surprise. "What, am I not even worthy of you being startled anymore?"

"Hey Marsh," Fionna responded, her voice slightly flat. "I kinda figured you'd be out here or you'd pop up sometime; you seem to have a knack for doing that."

"They'll be okay you know," Marshall Lee told her after a moment. His tone softened considerably and he placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.

"It's just kind of weird I guess," Fionna answered with a shrug. "Three days ago I didn't know I even had a brother and now he's lying in a hospital bed and I can't help but freak out about it."

"He'll be fine," Marshall Lee repeated. "Marcy knows what she's doing?"

"But what is she doing?" Fionna pressed. "All I know is that they're both in a coma and no one has been able to wake them up." The blonde sighed again and dragged her knees up to her chin. "Life was so much easier when I only had to worry about myself."

Marshall Lee was silent for a few moments, eying the young girl beside him. Her arms were wrapped securely around her legs and her hands were gripping her arms so tight her knuckles were almost white. "All right, look," he finally began. "I'm not really supposed to tell you anything, but since you're Finn's little sister I think the rules bend in your favor."

"What are you talking about?" Fionna asked, lifting her head from its position on her knees.

"Vampires are, essentially, magical creature," Marshall Lee explained. "And magic pretty much exists everywhere in this world, right?"

"Yeah," Fionna answered around a frown. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm getting there," Marshall Lee smirked at her. "Be patient." His grin widened when the girl huffed, but finally uncurled herself from her ball and turned a bit to face him. "Do you also know there are some types of magic that are very, very personal? Only between you and another person?"

"No, I didn't," Fionna replied thoughtfully. "Magic wasn't something girls learned where I was, unless it was healing or you were a shifter. But..." she began, only to cut herself off when the vampire boy held up a hand.

"So do you remember that mark that Bonni pointed out? The red one on Finn's arm?" He paused and waited for the blonde to nod before continuing. "Marcy's got a mark exactly like his on her arm. It's a very rare form of magic called soul binding; and it's even rarer for a vampire to do it with a mortal."

"Soul binding?" Fionna questioned, her head tilting to the side.

"I don't know all the specifics myself," Marshall Lee shrugged in reply. "It's not something I ever seriously looked in to. But I do know that it ties their souls together for eternity. Finn is bound to Marceline and Marceline is bound to Finn. He'll live a lot longer, maybe as long as an elf, and he won't really age or something. Marcy lost her immortality, but she can walk around in the sun now." He paused for a second. "And I know that when one dies the other dies with them."

"So they're both dying right now?" Fionna demanded as she jumped to her feet.

"No, they'll be fine," Marshall Lee tried to reassure her. "I think what Marceline did was buy them some time. Finn was dying but because his soul is bound to Marceline's she can share her life force with him, keep him alive while the doctors patch him up."

Fionna only nodded and flopped back onto the couch, her eyes focused on nothing. "So, they'll be okay?"

"As soon as Finn's been detoxed and patched up, yeah," Marshall Lee answered, smiling at the younger girl.

"I almost forgot how stressful it is to have other people to worry about," Fionna admitted softly, sighing once as she let her head fall against the back of the couch.

"I thought you said you were raised by a family of cat shifters," Marshall Lee said, poking at the blonde's side and smirking when she jumped.

"I was," Fionna frowned. "And will you stop that?" she hissed, swatting his hand away.

"Ticklish are we?" Marshall Lee asked with a wicked grin stretching across his pale lips. "Good to know," he added with a chuckle. "So what happened to them? If you're out here on your own it must have been bad."

"Not really," Fionna shrugged, though she kept a careful eye on the vampire boy, specifically his hands. "My adoptive parents died when I was eleven so it was my sister and me for a while. Then she got married and I left."

"Why?" the vampire questioned.

"Just didn't feel like staying I guess," Fionna replied with another shrug. "There really wasn't a reason for me to be there anymore."

"None at all?" Marshall Lee pressed. "No boyfriend or anyone you liked?"

"No," Fionna shot back, her frown darkening for a moment. "No one I'd really miss anyway. Why do you care?"

"Just curious," Marshall Lee answered with a shrug, propping his feet up on the table in front of him and leaning back into the couch with his hands behind his head. "You're pretty tight lipped about your life before all this so I figured I'd pump you for information as long as you were answering."

Fionna snorted in a very unladylike manner before curling back into a ball, her chin tucked on her knees. She stared off towards the far wall through the dim light of the moon. Her shoulders weren't nearly as tense as they had been just a few minutes prior, but she still held herself tightly and her head was turned slightly away from the boy next to her.

"You're an odd one, you know that?" Marshall Lee sighed as he reached over and tugged the blonde to him. "It's okay to cry in front of other people you know."

"I haven't cried for years," Fionna protested, though her voice had taken on a watery edge and she sniffed deeply a few times.

"All the more reason then," Marshall Lee returned as he tightened his hold on the younger girl in his arms. "You're long overdue."

"I'll get your shirt all wet and snotty," the blonde said as she weakly tried to squirm away.

"I've got plenty of others," the vampire boy dismissed.

Fionna hesitated for only a moment before her body went lax and her arms tightened around the undead boy as she buried her face against his cool chest. For the first time since her parents had died, she cried. All the pain, all the rage, all the confusion came spilling out of her eyes and into the waiting arms of someone she'd only known for a couple of days. Sometimes she babbled and others she sobbed incoherently, every once in a while exclaiming "It's not fair!"

For his part, Marshall Lee hugged the crying girl tightly to him, gently running a hand up and down her back. He didn't say a word as she finally released all the bottled up emotions that had been slowly eroding her away. What was there he could say anyway? He didn't know her story; hell he barely knew her outside of two late night half-conversations and some innocent teasing. Yet something had tugged him towards this girl when he saw her stare brokenly at the wall and it sparked angrily for all the people that had left her alone for too long. Hadn't anyone been able to see she was on the verge of breaking?

"Better?" he questioned softly when the blonde in his arms took a couple deep, ragged breaths.

"I guess," Fionna mumbled back. "Thanks."

"You needed it," Marshall Lee replied.

"Still, you didn't have to, so thanks," Fionna insisted as she untangled herself from Marshall Lee's arms and moved to sit against the opposite arm of the couch.

"Just don't tell anyone and we'll call it even," Marshall Lee grinned at her. "I have a reputation to uphold you know."

"I can just see it now," Fionna smirked back. "Big, bad Marshall Lee the Vampire King done in because he's really a big softie that knows how to comfort crying little girls. Your reputation will die, just roll over and die."

"You wouldn't dare," Marshall Lee hissed lowly, fighting the smile on his own face.

"Wouldn't I?" Fionna laughed. "Obviously you don't know me that well."

"There's that smile," the vampire boy said as his own smile spread across his face. He reached over and gently pinched a blushing cheek.

"You're not such a bad guy you know," Fionna returned as she swatted the pale hand away from her face.

"Silly girl, I'm the Vampire King, of course I'm evil," Marshall Lee chuckled darkly. "I'm a heartless, twisted monster and I corrupt everything I touch."

"Is that why the princess doesn't seem to like you?" Fionna questioned.

"Picked up on that, did you?" Marshall Lee smirked at her. "You're more observant than I gave you credit for Blondie. It's nothing to worry about though."

"I'm not worried about it," Fionna said as she turned to sit sideways on the couch, giving Marshall Lee her full attention. "I'm just curious," she echoed with a grin. "I told you a bit about me, now you get to share a story."

"You're not going to let it go until I tell you, are you?" the undead boy sighed good naturedly.

"Nope," Fionna replied, her grin growing larger.

"All right, all right, I guess I can play this story time game," Marshall Lee chuckled. "There's not much to say though. Bubblegum and Marce got into a fight, obviously I took Marcy's side and the rest is pretty much history."

"What was the fight about?" Fionna pressed. "And why would it matter that you took Marceline's side? You're her brother; that's pretty much expected, isn't it?"

"You're just full of questions, aren't you?" Marshall Lee laughed. "It was over your brother actually. Bubblegum didn't think it was a great idea for them to start dating and told them as much, repeatedly. She even tried to break them apart a couple of times. After the last time she tried I got involved. Let's just say that no one messes with my sister if I have anything to say about it," he added darkly. "And it's not at all pretty when I get involved."

"Why would Bubblegum care?" Fionna asked, her eyebrows scrunched over her nose and her head tilted slightly to the side. Marshall Lee had to fight off another laugh when his brain supplied the mental image of a curious puppy in place of the blonde beside him. "Does she like Finn or something?"

"Not like that," the vampire answered. "They're friends sure, but that's it. Bonni just isn't fond of losing what she thinks is hers. See, before he left with us, Finn had the honorary title of Princess' Knight. When he and Marce got together and we decided to leave this place and travel around our dear princess took that as wanting to leave her behind as well. She didn't take it very well."

"Oh, I see," Fionna replied thoughtfully. "But Finn is a living being, not a toy. What he does is entirely up to him."

"Yeah, try telling that to anyone who's been told since birth that the world is theirs for the taking," Marshall Lee laughed. "The higher up you go in society the more you find that people begin to think that those below them belong to them."

"That's bunck man," Fionna huffed.

"Tell me about it," Marshall Lee agreed. The pair lapsed into a friendly silence before he abruptly floated away from the couch. "Oh, hey, before I forget, I've got something for you." He floated over to the wall and grabbed a pack that had been carelessly tossed against it. He shuffled around in it for a moment before he exclaimed softly and pulled something out. "Catch," he called as he tossed something towards the blonde.

Fionna reached up and snagged it out of the air as the object came sailing towards her. When she brought it back down to eye level she froze for a moment. "How did you get this?" she whispered, gently stroking the opalescent pink crystal she had thought lost. "I saw Finn and Marceline selling it to Grendall."

"They couldn't sell it to her actually," Marshall Lee answered as he floated back towards the couch. "They tried but she said she couldn't take it because it was already bound to someone. So what is it? You said it was yours."

"A gift," Fionna answered softly, hugging the gem to her chest.

"I thought you said no one would miss you," Marshall Lee returned. "Someone must if they were willing to give you something like that."

"She won't miss me," Fionna replied sadly. "In fact, she probably doesn't even remember me by this point."

"Who was she?" Marshall Lee asked.

"She's this crazy old ice witch," Fionna replied as a small smile tugged at her lips. "She lived up in the mountains outside of Aaa's main kingdom. She's pretty much harmless, but everyone stayed away cause she is pretty nuts. Mostly though, she was just lonely so I'd go up there and keep her company when I wasn't out adventuring with my sister. When I told her I was leaving she gave me this. She said it'd keep me safe. But she doesn't remember things for long so she's probably forgotten I exist by now."

"So what is it then? Cause I really don't see how a fist sized piece of rock is gonna do much for you," Marshall Lee said as he floated over and poked at the crystal. "Unless you chuck it at someone, but that's kind of a one-time thing."

Fionna didn't say a thing as she squeezed the stone slightly. Marshall Lee jumped back and shouted out once when it grew into a long, delicately shaped blade made of the same stone. "I think it will protect me just fine," she said with a smirk towards the undead boy.

"A little warning would have been nice," he grumbled, glaring at the sword as it shrunk back down to its small crystal size. "Guess that's what Grendall meant when she said it was already bound to someone."

"Yeah," Fionna answered as a melancholy smile replaced the smirk. "Simmone said she made it specifically for me; no one else can use it."

"That's a pretty sweet gift," Marshall Lee said as he took up space next to the girl on the couch once more.

"Yeah, it's seen its uses since I left," Fionna agreed.

"How old were you?" the pale boy asked. "When you left I mean."

"It was about three weeks after my sixteenth birthday," the blonde replied. "About two years ago now actually."

"You've been alone for two years?" Marshall Lee pressed.

"You get used to it after a while," Fionna shrugged. "It was a huge change at first, but sometimes you've got to give things up to follow your dreams."

"And what dreams would those be?" the vampire asked with a grin.

"I want to fight, I want to be a warrior," the younger girl answered. "According to Finn, that's what I was born to be anyway. They wouldn't let me back in Aaa, so I left."

"They wouldn't let you?" Marshall Lee repeated, an eyebrow raised. "What kind of backward place is that? I admit, I've never really been to Aaa, but I figured they were on par with Ooo at least."

"Not really," Fionna admitted. "Aaa is pretty much peaceful and everyone figures that girls don't need to know how to fight if it's not necessary."

"That's lame," the undead boy proclaimed. "You're too good to be stuck baking cookies all day or something."

"Thanks," Fionna smiled. "I've never liked to sit still so I was always out running around and getting into fights as a kid." She paused to yawn loudly and shake her head.

"There's no need to keep me company you know," Marshall Lee smiled at the young girl. "I've spent a lot of nights by myself; a few more isn't going to kill me."

"It's not that," Fionna dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I just can't sleep, no matter how tired I am. I'm too worried I'll miss something I guess."

"Wait here," Marshall Lee commanded before he floated away towards a door on the left. "Seriously, don't even breathe," he teased.

Fionna rolled her eyes and took a dramatically over-exagerated breath, but smiled after the undead teen nonetheless. She shot a look back out the window and sighed at the beginnings of light peeking out over the distant horizon. She jumped slightly when she felt the couch dip considerably behind her and a loud thump greeted her ears. Turning around, she saw her vampire friend grinning impishly at her.

"Finally, I was starting to think that I'd lost my touch," he laughed.

"Jerk," Fionna shot back, punching the boy in the arm when he only continued to laugh at her.

"Hey, hey, watch where you're hitting," he said, turning slightly to protect something in his arms. Fionna looked over his shoulder to see him cradling an acoustic guitar.

"You know how to play?" she asked.

"Hell yeah I do!" Marshall Lee grinned. "I generally prefer electric, but acoustic has its own uses too; like putting you to sleep with a lullaby. No hush up and listen, cause I don't usually do this for other people."

The vampire teen began a soft, slow melody that instantly put Fionna at ease. He strummed the strings softly and with a skill born of centuries of practice. The light notes tugged at the blonde girl, lulling her into a peaceful blankness, but it was Marshall Lee's singing that finally did her in. His voice was pitched low, barely even there, and before she knew it, Fionna felt her eyelids drooping and then came the blissful darkness of slumber.

Marshall Lee kept playing for a few more minutes after the young girl's head dropped onto his shoulder. Half formed lyrics began to take shape in the back of his mind and he realized his playing had changed from well-rehearsed songs to something new, something softer, something just for the girl currently using him as a living pillow. He sighed as he strummed to a stop, forcing back the new ideas clamoring for attention before he gently swept the girl up into his arms and floated into her room. He deposited her on the bed and was amused when she immediately latched onto one of the many pillows to curl up with.

"Not a puppy then, a kitten," he chuckled quietly to himself, amending his earlier comparison of the young girl. He watched her for a few more seconds before floating back out the door and leaving the blonde to her slumber.

Fionna came awake to a soft knocking on the door and spent a bleary few moments trying to remember where she was. "Uh, come in," she said after having to clear her throat.

"Good morning Miss Fionna," Peppermint said with a slight bow.

"What time is it?" the teenager asked as she sleepily scrubbed at her eyes.

"It is almost ten thirty," the butler replied crisply. "Breakfast has already been served, but I can call up something if you'd like."

"No, I'm good thanks," Fionna said, stretching her arms above her head and sighing contentedly when her back cracked. "Is anything new?"

"Well yes actually," Peppermint answered. "That is, of course, why I originally came her. Both Master Finn and Miss Marceline have awoken."

Fionna's eyes flew wide and she all but ripped the covers off of her as she bolted off the bed. "Why didn't you say so?" she demanded as she flew past the shorter man. "Marshall Lee!" she called as she tore down the hall. "Get your lazy butt out of bed!"

"What?" the vampire teen demanded irately around a large yawn. "You people do understand that I'm nocturnal, right? That means I sleep during the day."

"They're awake!" the blonde grinned at him.

Marshall Lee was silent for only a second before he flew forward, scooped the younger girl up and took off as fast as possible through the hallways. He didn't think to give her a chance to change out of her sweats and t-shirt or brush the sleep-caused snarls from her hair and Fionna didn't seem to care that much about her morning appearance either. "Meet you there, Peppermint," he called over his shoulder and the amused laughter of the blonde in his arms.

The vampire had barely flown through the doors before the younger girl was practically launching herself out of his arms and making a beeline for a head of almost identical blonde hair.

"Well hey Fi," Finn grinned when he saw his little sister tearing past the empty beds. She didn't even slow as she got closer and all but tackled him back onto the bed. "Oof," Finn complained good naturedly as Fionna squeezed him tightly.

"Don't do that again!" she demanded before pulling back and smacking him on his uninjured shoulder. "You had me worried, you jerk! What's the point of going through all that trouble and telling me you're my brother if you're just going to up and die three days later?"

"I'm not dead Fi," Finn laughed, grinning widely at his little sister. "I'm alive, in case you missed that," he added, opening his arms for a hug.

"Not the point!" Fionna pouted, slugged him on the shoulder again and crossed her arms over her chest. She glared at him for a few more seconds before sighing and reaching over and hugging him again. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too baby sis, me too," Finn replied as he hugged her tight for a minute. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"It's okay, you're fine now," Fionna told him as she released her brother and took a step back.

"No, I mean back at the cavern," Finn tried to clarify. "I mean, I'm sorry I got you worried about me dying too, but I'm also sorry for snapping at you back at the cavern when you tried to stop me from going after Marcy."

"Oh, that," Fionna shrugged. "No worries, Marshall filled me in a bit on what's going on between you two so I get it."

"He did, did he?" Marceline asked from her bed next to Finn. She shot her twin a look, one eyebrow raised.

"She was upset," Marshall Lee defended himself. "Besides, she's Finn's little sister so she has a right to know at least the gist of it."

"We would have told her anyway Marcy," Finn reminded the other girl, reaching over and squeezing her hand affectionately.

"True," the vampire girl agreed.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Marceline," Fionna smiled at the other girl.

"Thanks," Marceline grinned in return. "It's nice to be awake and moving again."

"So, anyone else wondering what the hell that thing was?" Marshall Lee asked as he floated lazily on his back with his arms crossed behind his head.

"I may be able to shed some light on that," Princess Bonnibelle said as she walked in. "Finn, Marceline, it is good to see you both awake and healing well."

"Thanks to Marcy, you and the doc," Finn grinned back. "So what do you know about that big snake thing we were fighting?"

"Very little I'm afraid, but it may be a starting point at least," Bonnibelle replied. "I did some digging in the old texts when told me its name and found reference to it in a list of the Old Gods and Demons from before the Mushroom War over a thousand years ago."

"Old Gods?" Fionna questioned. "I thought they were just a myth."

"So does everyone else, and yet this creature you fought has the same name as one of the ancient demons," Bonnibelle answered. "It could just be coincidence though."

"I dunno," Marshall Lee said, a frown tugging at his lips. "That thing did say there would be others right before we killed it."

"Well, you and Marceline are from the Night O'Sphere," Bonnibelle shot back. "You've been surrounded by demons. Do you remember any references to the Old Gods?"

"None," Marceline said. "We've always assumed they were just myths and legends, just like everyone else."

"Would your father perhaps know something?" the princess pressed.

"Maybe," Marshall Lee replied. "Doesn't mean we're going to ask the old bastard though."

"We need to know what's going on!" Bonnibelle threw back, hands on her hips and a scowl on her lips. "You can't just shut down an avenue of information just because you don't like who has it!"

"I can and I will," the vampire boy snarled at the princess. "Need I remind you what happened the last time he was summoned here? You last half your kingdom's souls in a little over two hours."

"Well, yes, but..." Bonnibelle stuttered.

"And it took a lot to get him back into the hell pit he spawned from in the first place," Marshall Lee continued, steam rolling right over the pink haired girl.

"I know that!" Bonnibelle snapped. "I was not suggesting you summon him here! You can travel to the Night O'Sphere and back so you can go ask him."

"And then we'll all be stuck there instead," Marshall Lee casually tossed back. "Look, you hired us to come here and take care of this goblin army. They're scattered and their ring leader is dead. Job's done as far as I'm concerned so have a nice life and please hesitate to call in the future."

"So you're not even going to look into this?" the princess demanded. "You're just going to ignore all of this? I knew you were irresponsible but I didn't think you were so self-absorbed that you'd completely disregard something like this!"

"I never said that," Marshall Lee returned, flipping upright and glaring down the pink haired girl. "All I said is that we're no longer working for you and therefore you can't order us to do anything," he hissed, voice pitched low and spots of blood red color beginning to creep into his eyes. "And even if we were, we're all free people and therefore not bound to follow your word as law. As a matter of fact, Marceline and I seriously outrank you so I'd think twice before you take that tone with me again, are we clear?"

"Marsh," Fionna whispered softly, stepping up to him and placing a gentle hand on his arm. The vampire glanced her way and his shoulders immediately relaxed as his eyes reclaimed their usual black color.

"Keep that in mind," he growled at the princess before floating away from her.

"PB's right though," Finn piped up. "We do need to get information somehow. I'm not liking this, or what that snake told us about there being more."

"Me neither," Fionna agreed. "Something feels...wrong about this. Like something terribly dark is looming just out of sight."

"Kind of a morbid way to put it, but I agree with them," Marceline said. "Finn and I can go talk to dad; he's okay with him and I don't mind as much being there."

"It's not the 'being there' that has me reluctant to go back," Marshall Lee told his sister. "It's what that old man will try to do to get us to stay."

"That's why I'd bring Finn," Marceline replied. "He'll be less likely to pull something if he's there; dad seems almost reluctant to start a fight with Finn sometimes."

"Well, I did cut his face open the last time he was on this side of the portal," Finn chuckled. "That was pretty sweet."

"Regardless, I don't like it," the vampire boy frowned. "He's an ass and I wouldn't put anything past him when it comes to getting at least one of us to stay there."

"What other choice do we have?" Marceline asked. "We need answers. Besides, we won't be gone that long. Finn and I can leave now and be back before you know it."

"But, is Finn well enough to go?" Fionna questioned with a frown. "I mean, he was dying not even twenty-four hours ago."

"That's one of the great things about being bound to a vampire," Finn grinned widely. "As long as nothing is interfering, like poison, I heal a lot quicker. I'm good to go as soon as someone is willing to give me a shirt."

"Just be careful then," Marshall Lee grunted. "I do not want to have to go in after you, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Marceline smiled at him. "We'll get in and get out, promise."

Marshall Lee raised a skeptical eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest, but didn't say a word. He shook his head and sighed before he raised his shoulders in a resigned shrug. "Fi and I will be waiting on the ship then."

Within the hour Finn and Marceline had been checked out and released from the infirmary, had their stuff pulled together and were getting ready to disappear through a swirling, dark portal. Finn rubbed at his injured shoulder and stretched his arm out, making sure everything was working the way it should.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Fionna asked him, the corners of her mouth turned down.

"Yeah, I'm good," Finn smiled. "Besides, Hunson and I are cool so there's nothing to worry about."

"Then why are you taking that?" Fionna pressed, pointing to the blood red blade slung across her brother's back.

"Well, I am going into the Night O'Sphere Fi," the blond answered. "Just cause its ruler and I are on good terms doesn't mean it isn't still packed with demons and other nasties that like to tear apart fleshy mortals."

Fionna frowned at him and placed her hands on her hips, ready to bring this trip back up for debate before Finn cut her off quickly. "Marceline will be with me too," he reminded his little sister. "We'll be fine, promise."

"You'd better be," Fionna huffed.

Finn just laughed and reached over to ruffle her hair. Fionna scowled up at him and ducked out of his range, flipping up the hood of her hoodie as she did so.

"See you in an hour tops," Marceline told them as she floated past and closer to the portal.

"I'd say have fun, but well," Marshall Lee said as he cut himself off with a shrug.

Marceline waved over her shoulder as she disappeared into the swirling depths and Finn turned around to give the two staying behind a mock salute and a grin before his face was swallowed up as well.

"So what's up with your dad?" Fionna asked after the portal had closed in on itself. She and Marshall Lee had gathered their packs and were making their way towards the ship.

"He's an asshat," Marshall Lee answered with a low growl. "He's been trying to get Marce or me to stay in the Night O'Sphere and take over as Lord of All Evil for years," he added with a roll of his eyes. "Of course it never works, but that doesn't stop him from trying."

"Will Finn and Marceline be okay then?" the blonde girl pressed.

"Yeah, they'll be good," the undead boy replied. "Finn wasn't kidding when he said our dad likes him. Shocked the hell out of all of us when he was actually happy Marce and Finn bound their souls together. That's really why it's safer for them to be going; he knows he can't separate them so he won't even try."

Fionna nodded thoughtfully as she dropped her bag and plopped into one of the chairs on the bridge. "How long do you think it will take then?"

"Who knows?" Marshall Lee shrugged in return. "Could be a few minutes, could be the whole hour. It depends on how long the old man feels like talking I guess. Of course, that's assuming he even knows something to begin with."

"Oh ye of little faith," Marceline piped up as the portal swirled open once more and the undead girl followed the blond boy out.

"That was fast," Marshall Lee commented. "Learn anything new?"

"Surprisingly yes," Finn answered. "Your dad was pretty chill about us being there."

"Though he kinda freaked when we told him what had happened," Marceline added as she floated over to a chair and flopped into it. "He told us that the Old Demons rising is a bad omen, though he didn't know for what exactly. He said it'd been over a thousand years since they'd last roamed the land. They were supposed to have been banished to another dimension, never to come back."

"So really, it was an interesting history lesson, but he didn't know anything useful," Marshall Lee replied with a sigh. "So we're pretty much at square one."

"Nah, he did tell us where to go to find more information," Finn answered. "Well, maybe find more information. It's kind of a long shot really, but better than nothing."

"So where to then?" Fionna asked.

"The Hidden Library," Marceline replied. "The secret tower where information lost with the Great Mushroom War is said to remain. Which would be great if anyone actually knew where it even was to begin with."

"You mean it's not just a myth?" the blonde girl questioned. "Cause no one I know even believes it exists anymore, if it ever did in the first place."

"Hence the problem," Finn nodded in agreement. "Hunson didn't exactly have an idea where it was either, but he did say it exists…somewhere."

"And we're sure he isn't just being a total dick and sending us on a wild goose chase?" Marshall Lee pressed. "Cause that's totally something he would do."

"He seemed pretty sincere about it all when we told him what happened and that thing called itself Mesethail," Finn shrugged back. "Besides, it's really the only thing we've got to go on right now anyway."

"It's not much of a lead though, is it," Fionna said, a small frown tugging at her lips. "Who would we even talk to that would know where the Hidden Library is?"

"No idea, but we can start with a broker in the City of Thieves," Marceline answered. "If they can't tell us where they might at least be able to point us in the right direction of someone who might."

"I'm still not convinced we'll even find anything," Marshall Lee snorted. "But it's a place to start I guess. So, back to the City of Thieves then?"

"Looks like it," Finn agreed as he started up the engines to their airship. There was a quiet hum as the machines came to life once more and then the group was off, back into the wide open sky and chasing down their next adventure.

* * *

**AN2**: So there's chapter four The plot is starting to take shape and we're learning a little bit more of the four main characters. I hope you all enjoyed and please don't forget to leave a review! I love to read what you guys think and what you have to say.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN**: Thank you to everyone else that reviewed, favorited and alerted. It's always nice to know an author's work is appreciated, even just a little :) Seriously though, you guys totally make my day when I get those alerts on my phone :)

**Disclaimer**: If I did, Fionna and Marshall Lee would be in almost every episode.

* * *

"This is so stupid," Fionna complained as she fell onto one of the couch. "That was the fifth broker we've been to and they couldn't tell us anything either!"

"You'd think we would have found something in a week," Finn agreed, a scowl tugging at his lips.

"I'm telling you, it's our dad," Marshall Lee explained. "He's an asshole and he's probably down there, laughing it up at our expense."

"He seemed pretty sincere about it though," Marceline replied, a sigh slipping past her lips as she settled on the couch next to Finn.

"Marcy, you've got to stop being so naive when it comes to him," the undead boy said with a shake of his head.

"Maybe," the dark haired girl conceded. "But one of these days you're also going to have to let that fry incident go. I did and it's extremely liberating."

"Whatever," Marshall Lee grumbled back, shrugging his shoulders.

"Anyway, back on topic," the youngest member of the group interrupted. "What are we going to do? No one's been able to give us a single lead."

"Well, this place is a library, right?" Finn asked, suddenly sitting forward with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting in one of his hands.

"One would assume that's why it's got 'library' in the name," Marshall Lee snarked in response.

"Watch it Fang Face," Finn shot back, sending the other boy a flat glare. "We're all strung up and annoyed, no reason for you to act like more of an ass than usual."

"Meh, I call it like I see it," the undead boy replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders. "Anyway, why the glaringly obvious question?"

"Well, if it's a library, wouldn't other libraries know about it?" the blond asked. "I mean, all the libraries in Ooo seem to know what's going on with all the others, right?"

"If it was that simple wouldn't someone have found the place by now?" Fionna asked. "I mean, if you could just walk right in to a library and say 'Hey, I'm looking for the Hidden Library' and get a map and some directions don't you think the place would be more than a myth?"

"It's worth a shot though," Marceline defended Finn. "I mean, a week wandering around here hasn't turned up anything worth looking in to."

"Okay, so who's on good enough terms with a librarian that won't laugh us right out of the place?" Fionna pressed.

"Well, there's Tully," Finn answered thoughtfully. "She might know something."

"Who's Tully?" the other three chorused together.

"She's the princess of Algaitha kingdom. You know, the one near the cliffs overlooking the sea to the south?" the blond answered. "Jake and I ran a few missions for her after PB introduced us when I was a kid. They've got this huge library there and Tully pretty much lives in the place. Seriously, it's next to impossible to drag her out of that building. She's wicked smart too, at least she's really book smart. If she's not helping out with sorting and organizing she's always reading."

"And you think she knows something about the Hidden Library?" Marshall Lee questioned, one eyebrow raised and his arms folded over his chest.

"I don't know," Finn replied truthfully with a shrug of his shoulders. "She might, and she might not. But how can it be any worse than sitting around here and constantly getting zip from the brokers? At least if we ask Tully the information is free."

"Fair point," Marshall Lee agreed, tipping his head slightly in the direction of the other boy. "All right, we should pack up tonight and head out first thing in the morning."

"You sure you'll be awake for that?" Fionna teased, a smirk on her face. "I seem to remember you complaining not that long ago that you're nocturnal and we really need to stop making you function during the day."

"We're not carrying you or your crap to the ship," Marceline added, grinning at her brother.

"Hey, no big deal," Marshall Lee shrugged back, a wicked smirk slipping onto his face. "I figured we'd get going before the sun's even up. Don't worry, I'll be sure you wake you with plenty of time," he added with a cackle. He only laughed harder when three sets of faces scowled up at him. "Better get packing," he warned. "I'm completely serious."

Grumbles and complaints chorused from three separate mouths as the group shuffled off to their rooms to pack up. Fionna actually had a significant amount to shove into various bags and move onto the ship and wanted to get started as soon as possible. She and Marceline had ditched the boys one day and spent their time stocking up on the various supplies and tools the blonde girl would need. She now owned twelve more spaghetti-straps and tee-shirts all in varying shades of blue and two more hoodies; one all black with slashes of bloody red along the ribs (that one had actually been courtesy of Marshall Lee who complained her wardrobe was too blue and tossed the item at her head one day) and a light heather grey one that was much thicker and spelled to be resilient to subzero temperatures. She had grabbed seven more pairs of black leggings and five more jean skirts that reached about mid-thigh. When Marceline had dragged her towards the shoe store, Fionna had hung back and shyly asked if she'd be able to keep the black combat boots the other girl had loaned her instead. The vampire had just laughed and nodded her head before dragging the blonde off to their next destination; large grins on both of their faces.

Though the extra pairs of clothing where a welcome change, it was the weapons that she had been outfitted with that really excited the youngest member of the crew. Fionna had eagerly all but yanked her shopping companion into the weapons shop and spent a good few minutes drooling over what she saw.

"Oh yeah," Marceline had laughed. "If anyone doubted you really are Finn's little sister, that look on your face would totally convince them you are. He looks the exact same way when he comes in here."

The blonde girl had walked out of that particular store with a smaller wakizashi strapped horizontally across her lower back, a dagger hidden in each boot (Marceline had been nice enough to point out two compartments made for just such a purpose in each shoe) and a new holster that wrapped around her left thigh to keep her crystal at hand when it was in its inert form. The man at the counter had given her a funny look when she'd asked for a custom job for the pink crystal but had whipped something up for her anyway. She also had a smaller dagger to keep hidden on her person to use as a last resort.

"Preparing to go to war?" Finn had asked once the girls made it back to the house later that night.

"You can never be too prepared," Fionna had grinned in response before heading off to her room.

Now, staring at the piles of stuff she had, Fionna questioned her rational for getting most of it. Granted, once she lugged it all onto the ship in the morning most of it would actually stay there, but she was not relishing the thought of having to try and fit it all into her one small pack. She huffed to herself as she glanced between the piles of clothes and personal supplies and the sack she'd have to get it all in.

"Having trouble?" Finn asked from her doorway.

"Yes," the younger blonde hissed. "I can't believe I let Marceline talk me into getting all of this."

"She's pretty good at talking people into doing things," the older boy laughed. "And you do need most of it. Besides, we don't leave anything behind here and most of it'll stay on the ship once you move it there since that's pretty much where we live more often than not."

"I know," Fionna sighed. "It's just the getting it there that's the problem. There's a lot of stuff and very little space to stuff it all in."

"I'll see if I can find another pack laying around here somewhere," Finn promised as he stepped into the room.

"Thanks," Fionna smiled. "So what's up?"

"Well, I was thinking now would be a good time to talk," the blond boy began. He scratched at the back of his head and looked down at the floor. "If you want to anyway."

Fionna stared at her brother for a moment, biting her lip between her teeth, before she mutely nodded her head. "Sure," she finally managed to say softly. She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at a patch of carpet between her feet.

Finn sat next to her, looking towards the door for a moment before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "So what do you want to know?" he asked. "Just keep in mind, I don't know the whole story either; I just know what I remember."

"Why was I abandoned?" the blonde girl asked. "Why was I left in the middle of some random forest, all alone?"

"Three weeks before we were abandoned, mom and dad got really tense about something," Finn began quietly after hesitating for a moment. "They kept looking over their shoulders and whispering about something when they thought I wasn't paying attention. We moved around a lot then too; I don't think we were in one place for more than two or three days. Then one night there was this stranger at the door to the inn we were staying in. Mom and dad seemed to know him, even though he was dressed in a dark robe with a deep hood and I couldn't see his face. Whatever he told them freaked them out and the next morning mom took you and dad took me and went their separate ways. I don't know what happened to you after that, but dad brought me to the middle of nowhere and left me there with the red sword. He told me I'd need it. He also told me to stay strong, be brave, and find you when I was old enough. Then he kissed my forehead, told me he loved me and told me to tell you that he loves you too when I found you. Then he just turned around and walked away. I tried to follow, but I was only two and a half and there's only so far I could go at that age. I collapsed after a while and just sat there, staring off into space. That's when my adoptive family found me. I lived with them until I was about twelve when my brother Jake and I decided to go off on our own. I've been looking for you since I was fifteen when I had more freedom to move around Ooo and I had more contacts to ask if they'd seen you. I never even thought to look in Aaa, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Fionna whispered back, wiping tears from her eyes. "What freaked them out so bad that they'd just leave us like that?"

"I don't know," Finn answered with a shake of his head. "But I do know that they loved us. They pretty much doted on you, you know," he added with a soft smile. "I think you had all of us wrapped around your little finger from the second you were born."

Fionna laughed wetly for a moment, still scrubbing at her watery eyes. She felt Finn reach over and didn't fight him when he pulled her into a hug. "You know, this is the second time within a week that someone's hugged me when I've been crying," she said. "I'm starting to think I've got a problem."

"Nah, just means you can trust the people around you," Finn answered. "Well, and that you might be a bit of a crybaby," he added, laughing when his little sister slugged him in the arm.

"Jerk," Fionna growled.

"Hey, it's a big brother's right to tease and pick on his baby sister," Finn chuckled. "You might want to get used to it."

The blonde girl huffed but didn't pull back from her brother's hug. "What did they look like?" she finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

"You look a lot like mom actually," Finn answered. "Both of us take after her the most, though we got our blue eyes from dad. Dad was pretty tall, about 6'4". He had dark hair and he could honestly be terrifying to the people that threatened his family. He was a big guy, but if you knew him you'd know he's really more of a big teddy bear," the blond boy laughed. "Like I said, he pretty much adored you; you were his baby girl. Mom was tall and thin with long blonde hair and bright green eyes. Everyone pretty much wrote her off in a fight, but that was a mistake. She could more than hold her own and she was fierce if you pissed her off," Finn chuckled again. "They were good people though; they always tried to help others when they could."

"Do you think they could still be alive?" Fionna pressed, her voice even quieter.

Finn paused for a long moment, staring off into a middle distance, not really seeing anything. "No," he finally whispered as he hugged his sister even tighter. "No, I don't think they are."

"I should probably finish packing," Fionna said after a long moment, pulling away from her brother and rubbing at already red eyes. "Thank you for telling me by the way," she added with a small smile.

"Of course," Finn replied, shrugging and letting a smile of his own cross his lips. "I'm sorry it's not a lot."

"You told me what you could," the blonde girl said as she shook her head. "Like you said, you were two and a half; there's only so much that you knew at the time."

Finn grinned a little wider at his little sister before he stood from his spot on the bed. "Let me go see if I can round up a bigger bag, or at least more packs," he added, looking at the piles dotting the floor.

"Thanks," Fionna said, smiling a little wider herself. "I'll get back to trying to shove it all into places I already know it won't fit."

Fionna felt that familiar prickling feeling in the back of her mind that warned her of another presence just before the covers to her bed were yanked away and cold chunks of ice rained down on her body. The blonde bolted upright with a sound caught between a shriek and an outraged howl. She looked up, her eyes flashing a glacial blue, when she heard deep chuckling coming from above her head. "What. The. Hell?" she growled at the undead boy who was floating a few feet away. Which was wise, she reflected, because if he had been close enough she would have tackled him to the ground and pressed the dagger under her pillow to his throat.

"Oh that was hilarious," Marshall Lee gasped out between fits of laughter. "Your face Fi, you should have seen your face! You looked like a shocked little kitten."

"You're such an ass!" Fionna yelled, tossing her pillow at him. She only glared harder when he caught it effortlessly and chucked it back at her.

"I thought you already knew that," the raven haired boy smirked back. "Besides, it was funny!"

"To you maybe," the blonde grumbled, shoving the quickly melting frozen bits of ice away from her person and wrinkling her nose at the watery mess it made of her bed. "I hope you realize this means you need to watch your back."

"You're welcome to try," Marshall Lee grinned wide, showing off his fangs. "But don't get your hopes up Kitten."

"Kitten?" Fionna asked, a frown on her lips. "Really?"

"It fits," Marshall answered with a shrug. "Now grab your junk and let's go."

"What time is it anyway?" Fionna asked as she finally dragged herself out of bed. She quickly gathered up the clothes she'd left out the night before and dumped them on a relatively dry patch of blankets and sheets.

"About three thirty in the morning," the floating undead boy replied, the grin evident in his voice.

Fionna turned him around and leveled him with her best glare; the one her sister had once said just might be able to make other people burst into flame if she stared them down too long. "I really hate you right now," she hissed.

"Not my fault you stayed up half the night to pack," Marshall Lee returned as he sent a smirk towards the girl. "Besides I totally warned you that I'd be waking you all up early."

"Whatever," the blonde grumbled. "Now out so I can change."

"And if I don't want to leave?" Marshall Lee asked, his smirk growing wider.

"I will yell for my brother and then watch happily from the sidelines while he beats you into a broken, bloody mess," Fionna smiled widely in reply, her tone dripping in sarcasm and morbid cheer.

"What, not going to take me on yourself?" the vampire teased.

"Nope," Fionna answered. "At least not while I'm still half asleep and not entirely there. When I fight you again I want to make sure I'm completely focused. Besides, they say hell hath no fury like a women scorned, but they've never seen an older brother fighting to protect his little sister," she added with a dark grin. "I'm willing to bet it's pretty terrifying, as I'm sure you'd know."

"You've got a point there Kitten," Marshall Lee agreed, grinning at the younger girl's scoff at the new nickname. "All right, I'm out, but make it quick. I wanna be outta here and on the ship as soon as possible."

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde returned, waving vaguely in the direction of the door. "I'll be out in a few."

Fionna stepped out into the hallway a few minutes later, lugging all five packs crammed with her things. She saw Finn and Marceline standing off to one side, glaring rather sullenly at the floating boy, who had the largest grin she had ever seen on his face. "What'd he do to you?" she asked.

"Jammed earbuds into our ears and blasted really loud music," Marceline grumbled back, idly rubbing at said appendages. "You?" she added, looking over at the blonde.

"Ripped off my sheets and dumped ice on me," Fionna answered flatly.

"And you should have seen her face," Marshall Lee cackled. "Almost as priceless as both of yours."

"You do realize you've outnumbered yourself, don't you?" Marceline said as a wicked grin painted itself across her face. "You will now have three people plotting against you and working together to get it done."

"I'll take my chances," Marshall Lee laughed, completely at ease. "Now let's get out of here and then you can all get back to sleep on the ship."

Another chorus of grumbles filled the air as the other three filed towards the door and out into the chilly night air. Fionna shrugged her right shoulder to try and readjust the heavy pack lying across it when she suddenly felt it getting pulled from her grasp. She looked up to see the pale boy throwing it over his own shoulder as though it weighed nothing at all.

"I got this Kitten," Marshall Lee grinned at her.

"Thanks," Fionna smiled back. "Though that doesn't mean I forgive you for dumping ice cubes on me."

"Can't blame a guy for trying," the vampire chuckled.

"So are you going to keep calling me that?" the blonde asked as she followed her brother out the door.

"What, Kitten?" Marshall Lee asked. "Most probably. Like I said, it fits. And it seems to annoy you," he added with an unrepentant grin.

"Giving my baby sister a hard time Marsh?" Finn said with a look over his shoulder. His eyebrows were drawn into a scowl but anyone who looked closely enough could see the smile he was fighting off.

"Nah, just assigning her a new nickname," the undead boy laughed as he floated just out of range of Fionna's fist. "I think it'll take some time for her to get used to it though."

Fionna just grumbled under her breath and did her best to ignore the undead boy constantly shooting funny faces in her direction. It was harder than she thought, especially when he started blowing raspberries at her and tried to make a general nuisance of himself. It only got all the more frustrating when he'd slip just out of range and laugh. "It's too early for this," she complained as she shuffled onto the ship.

"Cheer up Kitten, you can go back to sleep now," Marshall Lee laughed.

Fionna growled out a few unintelligible words and reached up to take her pack back from the undead boy. Instead she found herself being swept up into his arms.

"If you wanted me to carry you, all you had to do was ask," the vampire boy teased, keeping a firm grip even as the blonde squirmed around. He floated off towards her bunk and unceremoniously dropped her on her bed. "Would you like me to tuck you in as well?" he grinned.

"No, but maybe another sappy lullaby would help," Fionna tossed back loudly, smirking wide when Marshall Lee shot a nervous glance towards the open doorway to her room. She only laughed when he breathed a quick sigh of relief when it seemed that neither Finn nor Marceline had heard her.

"You play dirty Kitten," Marshall Lee grinned back as he set her pack down at the foot of the bed.

"It's the only way to play," Fionna answered before she yawned.

"I'll let you get back to sleep," the vampire said, floating towards the door. "Sleep well Kitten." He laughed when her only response was to toss her pillow at the closing door.

A four day flight had them landing in Algaitha with bright blue skies and a soft wind at their backs. It had been smooth sailing the entire way, unless you counted the many failed attempts three members of the crew made to get back at the undead boy. Somehow he seemed to know what they were planning and either avoided it entirely or turned it right back on them. It had not been pleasant on the second day in when the three of them had ten gallons of red dyed water dumped on them; Fionna was still trying to scrub some of the dye off of her skin.

"We should move here," Finn said as he stepped off the ship. "It's never really cold and it's sunny more often than not."

"Not exactly the best place for me," Marshall Lee groused from underneath his umbrella, glaring at any stray patch of sunlight that threatened him.

"Never said you'd be moving with us," Finn grinned back.

"Let's just find this library and get indoors, yeah?" the undead boy huffed as he floated past the trio. "Every second I'm out here means another second in which I could be fried to extra crispy."

Finn only laughed and started towards the city center. "Follow me," he called as he raced down the path. "Try and keep up."

It didn't take long for the friendly challenge to become something of a sibling rivalry as the blond headed siblings raced each other through the streets. Legs may or may not have been thrown out in an attempt to trip the other up, but by the time they skidded to a stop outside a huge, three story brown stone building, they were laughing in between gasps for air.

"I totally had you," Finn panted. "Until you cheated back there near that merchant stall."

"You tripped me up first," Fionna reminded her older brother, a grin on her slightly red face.

"Yeah, but I didn't send you careening into some guy's shop," Finn laughed.

"That wasn't on purpose," Fionna giggled. "But it was funny!"

"Right up till the guy came out and started yelling at me," Finn agreed. "Then it got really hard to keep a straight face."

The blond pair dissolved into a fit of raucous laughter as they collapsed on the concrete steps. The vampiric twins found them there, a few minutes later, leaning against each other for support even as they wrapped their arms around their stomachs in a vain attempt to keep the giggles in.

"So who won?" Marceline asked, floating over to Finn.

The human pair sent each other one look and suddenly their laughter exploded once again. "We missing something?" Marshall Lee asked, one eyebrow raised as he looked back and forth between the siblings.

"Nah," Fionna managed to say between chuckles. "It's really not that important."

"But it was pretty funny," Finn said, taking a deep breath and holding it for a second. "Fi is definitely vicious when she's trying to win."

"Evidently, it's a family trait," the blonde girl returned, smirking at her brother.

"Never said it wasn't," Finn grinned back as he finally pulled himself up off the steps. "Anyway, let's get in there and see what Tully knows."

The four of them slipped through the heavy oak doors and into the dim silence of the library. The place was huge, with three floors filled with tall bookcases, all of them loaded with the bound written word. Tall windows on the front of the building let in bright patches of sunlight, though it dimmed to almost darkness the further back one went. The high ceiling far above their heads was painted to look like a forest growing towards them. Though it fascinated her, Fionna found that looking at it for too long left her feeling slightly disoriented.

Finn left the other three to stare while he made his way over to the front desk. After chatting with the grey haired lady behind the desk for a few minutes he wandered back over to his companions, a large grin on his face.

"Tully's back in the stacks," he told them. "It's pretty much dead back there so we'll be able to talk without having to worry about anyone overhearing."

The blond boy led them through the shelves of books, winding in and out in a path he seemed to know well despite the years he'd been away. The further back they got, the dimmer the light seemed to be and eventually the boy reached out and touched a hand to one of the crystals affixed to the wall. All down the row a pale yellow light emitted from the gems, giving the group a bit more to see by.

"Hardly anyone ever comes back this far," Finn explained as he started off again. "So they generally leave these inactive. You can touch one and everyone in the circuit will activate though." He took a short trip down the hallway to a door with a big read sign that proclaimed the space for employees only. "Just a heads up, she's kinda shy and soft spoken so don't be surprised if she doesn't say much to you," he added before he pushed the door open.

The trio followed the blond boy as he wound his way through dimly lit aisles of ancient books. Fionna let her attention wander; eying the faded lettering along the leather bound spines of the books on the shelves. She couldn't make out any words in the sparse light and didn't have time to stop and inspect any that caught her interest as her brother led them deeper into the stacks. Finally, he stopped in front of a long table littered with piles of books, some spread open haphazardly around the wooden surface. Fionna regarded the girl with limp, dark blonde hair and the rounded face and body. For a moment, she had the strong impression of a turtle and had to shake the thought away.

"Hey Tully," Finn greeted, a large smile on his face. "It's been a while."

"Finn," Tully said, pulling her attention away from the books spread out in front of her. The slow, soft cadence of her voice brought an image to a turtle once more. "It's good to see you again. What brings you here?"

"We're looking for something actually," Finn admitted sheepishly, scratching at the back of his neck. "Oh! And I should probably introduce you to everyone. This is Marceline," he started, motioning to the vampire girl. "Fionna is my little sister and the dude floating around next to her is Marceline's brother, Marshall Lee."

"Vampires," Tully said, looking between the pale siblings for a moment before focusing on Finn and Marceline. "And you two are bound, that's rare."

"How do you know?" Marceline demanded, her hand automatically going to the mark on her arm, covered by her sleeve.

"Tully can see things," Finn tried to explain, his face scrunched up as he sought for the right words. "She just knows about stuff. Something about auras or something."

"You're sister is different as well," Tully continued, her attention going to the young blonde. "You're not quite a warrior, are you?"

"What are you talking about?" Fionna asked, her head tilting to the side.

"Yeah, she's my baby sister," Finn added. "Of course she's a warrior; everyone in our family is."

"Oh, she can fight, and fight well," Tully agreed with a slight nod of her head. "But she doesn't quite have the same gift as you do."

"I don't understand," Fionna pressed.

"I'm not really sure either," Tully answered. "Your aura is just slightly...different I suppose. Anyway, that's not why you came here. It is a pleasure to meet you all, friends of Finn; what can I do for you?"

"We're looking for the Hidden Library actually," Marshall Lee drawled, floating lazily on his back with his umbrella hooked onto his arm. "You know where it is?"

"Not specifically, but I know where I can find a map for you," Tully replied before she wandered off through the stacks, moving with a surety born of familiarity.

"Well, what do you know, this turned out to be a great idea after all," Marceline said as she watched the other girl toddle off.

"You sound so surprised," Finn grumbled good naturedly, his arms crossed over his chest. "Though I have to admit, that's the most I've ever heard her say at a time, especially to new people."

"Maybe she knew what we're doing is important," Fionna suggested with a shrug.

"I'm curious to know what she meant about you though," Marshall Lee said as he floated close to poke the young blonde in the cheek. He laughed when she swatted his hand away a mere second later, though he stored that particular bit of information away; no human should have been able to move that fast.

"Who knows?" Fionna replied as she shifted her weight from foot to foot slightly. "It didn't make any sense to me either."

"It's probably nothing to worry about," Finn reassured his sister as he slung an arm across her shoulders. "Doesn't matter what's different about you, you're still my little sister," he added with a grin. "Besides, it's most likely cause you're built for stealth instead of extended combat."

For a moment Fionna thought about telling the truth. She'd opened her mouth to speak the words; to tell everyone that she wasn't as normal as she pretended, but then Tully came back carrying a heavy tome and the moment passed. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and hoped no one noticed her almost confession. It was bad luck for her that a certain vampire boy took in every reaction, but she didn't know that yet.

"What's with the book?" Marceline asked as she floated closer. "I thought you said you had a map."

"Well, kind of," Tully admitted sheepishly. "This is an old book of maps from before the Mushroom War, though someone had made notes about landmarks and places that have been dated after the war had ended. There are mentions of a 'depository of knowledge' on one of the maps that don't match up with any library in Ooo or Aaa now. I think that it may be the Hidden Library." She quickly flipped through the pages and came to a stop on a faded color map with names of cities that meant nothing to the group. Hand written notes dotted the semi-glossy page everywhere and Tully pointed to one situated at almost the bottom of the page. It was longer than the others; a few sentences instead of the single words of every other note. "See? It talks about a gathering place for all knowledge left over but that it must be kept secret from survivors. I think that is the Hidden Library."

"You don't know for sure?" Finn asked, leaning closer to try and read the cramped, dark lettering.

"It fits with the myths that surround it," Tully answered. "It's remote, removed from all of these other places and any stories I've managed to find have mentioned how it needs to be kept hidden from survivors."

"So how are we supposed to find this place if this map isn't even accurate anymore?" Fionna frowned, staring at the unfamiliar shapes and names. "None of that even makes any sense."

"Not all of it anyway," Marshall Lee replied thoughtfully as he floated close. "You forget that Marce and I have been around for a while. We were still really little kids with the war ended, but I recognize some of this. Do you have any current maps of Ooo?" he added, looking over at Tully.

"Of course, I'll be right back," the librarian nodded before taking off again. She came back with an armful of rolled up parchments and dropped them on the table.

Marshall Lee reached over and scanned each map, barely opening it before letting it roll back up and tossing it aside. Finally he nodded to himself and spread out one of the maps, using books to weigh it down at the corners. "If I'm remembering my geography correctly, then the Hidden Library should be about here," he said, pointing to a barren spot on the map.

"But there's nothing out there," Marceline replied, frowning at the barren spot her brother was pointing to.

"Nothing that anyone knows about anyway," Finn agreed. "You've got to go through the Edge to get there first."

"Has anyone ever gone through that forest?" Fionna asked. "Cause I heard that it marks the end of the world."

"Don't believe everything you hear Kitten," Marshall Lee grinned at the young blonde. "It's not the end of the world, but as far as I know nothing else is out that way."

"There used to be cities that way," Marceline added, looking almost forlornly at the map. "At least, there were before the Mushroom War. Then everything just...exploded and changed." She leaned into Finn when the boy stepped up close and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"So what do we do then?" Finn questioned. "Are we going to try and walk it through the Edge?"

"We don't really have any other choice," Marshall Lee nodded, his eyes still glued to the parchments. "There aren't any towns close enough to get to when we need to recharge the ship."

"We might be able to take horses though," Marceline pointed out, motioning to a small black dot on the map with tiny lettering around it. "It looks like there's one more town before the Edge."

"Horses it is then," Marshall Lee nodded as he rolled up the parchments and handed them back to Tully. "We might as well get going now. It's pretty close but the sooner we get there the sooner we can find this place."

The four of them thanked Tully and quickly shuffled out of the library. They stayed docked long enough to recharge the power crystals before returning to the skies.

"So, just out of curiosity," Marshall Lee began idly that night as the four of them sat around the dinner table. "Why are we doing all this? It isn't like it's a paying job."

"Curiosity mostly," Finn answered with a lazy shrug. "I want to know what that snake thing meant and besides, we'd be out of jobs if something bad is going down."

"And this place probably hasn't been touched for hundreds of years," Marceline pointed out. "So there's got to be something worth looting. It's not like we're going to go broke doing this."

"I suppose it has been a while since we've had a good dungeon crawl," the vampire boy replied thoughtfully.

"So what's the Edge like up here?" Fionna asked. "I know down in Aaa it's where outcasts tend to migrate."

"There are stories of some people trying to make a life in the woods," Finn answered. "But mostly it's where the monsters live since no one really bothers with them in there. They're not at all friendly to outsiders and we'll really need to steer clear of the giants that live there."

"So basically we're walking into a nest of monsters with only vague directions on where to go," Fionna stated.

"Pretty much," Finn shrugged, completely unconcerned.

"Sweet," Fionna grinned, her fingers lightly dancing across the top of the crystal strapped to her leg for a moment.

* * *

**AN2**: Whelp, there's chapter five for you all. Hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to leave a review!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN**: IMPORTANT QUESTION! So I don't know if I've told you guys (or how many of you have read my other stories and therefore already know) but I am trying to get my original work published. After this last round of rejections it's got me questioning whether my original work is even worth the read. Would you guys be opposed to me posting, say, the first three chapters as a "special chapter" here so I could get your opinions? Let me know in your reviews and thank you all for your kind reviews and alerts and favorites. You guys seriously make my day :)

Also, I've had a few of you lovely people ask when something more will happen between Marshall Lee and Fionna. I promise it's coming, but at this point they've only known each other for a few days by this point. Plus they've both got some emotional scars that make them a little hesitant about relationships. It's coming though, I promise :)

**Disclaimer**: Does it count if I wish I did?

* * *

It turned out that getting to the Edge wasn't nearly as hard as the quartet had thought; getting into it proved to be another matter entirely. Because the trees grew so tall and so thick there was only one, narrow, barely there game trail into the dark forest and it happened to be situated just outside the only town crazy enough to live anywhere close to the tangled mess. Perhaps calling it a town was being a bit generous; it was really nothing more than a few small log cabins, an even smaller general store, and perhaps the tiniest crystal recharging station in the whole land of Ooo. The only people living up here were a few certifiably insane hunters that decided to make the creatures haunting the Edge their prey. The little place was peaceful enough though and the trade for the furs and pelts they brought back was always enough for them to make a living. They never really saw travelers all that often and that suited them just fine. Understandably, it was a bit of a shock for them when the airship docked, four kids walked out and then asked the fastest way into the Edge.

Marshall Lee frowned at what was probably the fourth or fifth person to tell them to get back in their ship and leave the Edge to the experienced hunters. "It's no place for little kids" seemed to be the theme of the day and the vampire boy was about one more word away from decking somebody and showing these beefed up idiots how much of a helpless little kid he really wasn't. "Look," he hissed through clenched teeth. "What we do and where we go is none of your business. Just point us to that trail and we'll be out of your way."

"I can't do that," an exceptionally burly man with blond-yellow hair and a rather long mustache of the same color, told them with a shake of his head. "You're just kids, you'll get yourselves hurt. The Edge is no place to play around in."

"I'm over a thousand years old," Marshall Lee growled, his face shifting slightly as his fangs elongated and his eyes turned black with only pinpricks of red. "I've been dealing with dangerous things longer than you've been alive. I'll only ask once more, where is the entrance to the Edge?"

Though the hunter took a surprised step back when the vampire's face shifted, the frown on his lips held firm and he shook his head once more. "Be that as it may vampire, your companions are too young."

Fionna scowled and stepped up next to the undead boy. She thought she heard her brother mumble "here we go" and Marceline snicker a little, but she dismissed it. "Listen buddy," she seethed. "I'm not some weak kneed little princess. I can take care of myself and I can make my own choices. I don't care who you think you are, you don't dictate what I do with my life. Now, you can either put us on the relatively safe path you use to get through the Edge or we can cut our way through somewhere else. Either way, we're getting in, understand?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared the older man down, not flinching once when he glared at her in return.

Eventually the older hunter sighed and the four of them watched as his shoulders slumped. "All right little missy, you make a fair point. Can I at least ask that you wait until morning to set out? At least then I'll have some sense of peace."

"Fair enough," Fionna nodded in return, an easy smile replacing her scowl. "Thank you."

"Geez Kitten, I may have to upgrade you to lion cub," Marshall Lee chuckled as the group made their way back to their ship.

Fionna glanced over at the boy, one eyebrow raised and her head tilted slightly to the side.

"Lion cause of your hair color," the vampire explained, knowing what she was asking without words and giving the blonde locks a slight tug. "Though I suppose a cheetah could work as well but they just don't seem as fierce. You're still just a cub though cause you're too cute to be otherwise."

"Whatever man," Fionna replied with a roll of her eyes. "At least I got us in and I didn't have to go all 'monster-face' to do it," she added with a smirk in his direction. "By the way, what does that say about you if a little shrimp of a girl can do what you can't?"

"She's got you there," Finn laughed, walking backwards to join the conversation. "And personally, I'd rather deal with you in a bad mood than her when she's pissed," he added, grinning unrepentantly at Marshall Lee's answering glare.

"Face it Marshy, you're about as scary as a fluffy little bunny on a sugar high," Marceline chimed in, causing the other set of siblings to laugh loudly.

"I'm surrounded by comedians," Marshall Lee grumbled, floating past the trio and into the ship. "If I've got to go walking around in the daylight tomorrow then I'm going to turn in now. Later."

The next morning the group was up bright and early, stuffing their packs full of supplies and other necessities for a long trip. Spread out between the four of them no one had to carry too much, but their packs still resembled bulging, overstuffed sausages.

"You're a walking arsenal, you know that?" Marshall Lee asked the small blonde girl as she strapped her crystal to her leg and hid the various knives around her body. He wasn't sure whether to grin or roll his eyes when she checked that her short blade was secure horizontally at the base of her back; she'd already tested the thing at least five times.

"Never hurts to be prepared," Fionna answered with a shrug.

"I'm not sure if it's scary or really hot that you actually know how to use all of that," the vampire added after a moment, gesturing vaguely about her person.

"All kittens have teeth and claws you know, especially lion cubs," the blonde replied, a smirk firmly settled on her lips.

"Too true," Marshall Lee laughed as he floated over and ruffled Fionna's hair. "I'd say consider me warned, but you're too fun to tease to stop."

"I have to hand it to you Fi," Marceline said from the doorway. "You actually managed to make him somewhat sociable. Usually he's this grumpy, mopey loner."

"Like I'm going to want to be anywhere near you two when you decide to hole up in your room," Marshall Lee replied, wrinkling his nose slightly. "And I'm not mopey," he added belligerently, arms crossed over his chest.

The light hearted, joking mood that had filled the air in the ship immediately disappeared when the four of them made their way into the town. It looked like almost every hunter had turned out to see the group off; all of their faces solemn and no one saying a word.

"Follow me," the hunter from the previous day said when they were close enough. He led them on a short jog out of town to the looming, dark shapes of tall trees. They came to an abrupt stop and he pointed towards the seemingly dense, impenetrable wall. "There's the trail in," he told the group with a jerk of his head. "I'd tell you to stick to it, but I doubt you'd listen to me."

"We're looking for something actually," Finn replied. "Have any of you ever come across any really old buildings while you've been in there?"

"Can't say we have," the hunter answered with a shake of his head. "We generally don't wander that far back. But a couple of people have mentioned seeing what may be the remains of an old road. Don't know if it goes anywhere, but it may help you."

"How far in is it?" Finn pressed. "And what direction do we need to go?"

"Not sure about how far, but get in and head east," the hunter answered. "Keep an eye out for it and you should see patches of old concrete that kind of look like they might have been a road once."

"Thanks," Marshall Lee said as he floated past and into the darkened forest. "Coulda saved you a bunch of trouble if you'd have just told us that in the first place."

"Don't mind him," Marceline told the hunter as she rolled her eyes. "It's way past his bedtime and he's just cranky."

The hunter just watched, shaking his head, as the other three followed the vampire boy into the darkness. They were laughing again and he saw the pale boy flip them all off before joining in. "They're crazy, those kids," he mumbled to himself before turning away and getting to work.

The interior of the Edge turned out to be a lot darker than any of them had anticipated; before long Finn and Fionna were practically relying on Marshall Lee and Marceline to guide them through even as the blond siblings tried to squint into the darkness.

"It's almost like the middle of the night in here," Fionna grumbled as she tripped over yet another reaching root. She shot a nasty glare at a vaguely darker smudge that she hoped was the offending limb. "I can't see anything."

"That's what we're here for Kitten," Marshall Lee chuckled in her ear as he gently took her arms and steered her away from another spill. "Marce and I can see just fine."

"Yeah, yeah," the smaller blonde grumbled as she gave up and let the vampire boy lead her around the forest. "I just don't like not being able to see."

"Well, I could always bite you then," Marshall Lee whispered against her neck, smirking when he noticed the shiver running down her spine. "I've always wondered what a vampire kitten would be like."

"Not funny man," Fionna huffed as she pulled herself free from his grip. She stepped forward a few paces and stumbled once more. "Seriously, this place sucks!"

"No, that's my job," Marshall Lee laughed as he scooped Fionna up into his arms. He grinned wide, flashing his fangs at the young blonde girl. "Here, why don't I carry you Kitten, since you don't want to join my legion of the undead."

"And be your slave for all eternity?" Fionna scoffed as she struggled around in Marshall Lee's arms. "Yeah, no thanks."

"Not my slave, silly Kitten, you'd be my minion," Marshall Lee chuckled, tightening his grip slightly on the wiggling girl. "And you might as well stop squirming; I'm not putting you down."

"Same difference," the youngest member of the group huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and staring resolutely away from the vampire carrying her, though she stopped moving.

"Nah, minion sounds a lot cooler than slave," Marshall Lee smirked at the girl.

"You okay Fi?" Finn asked as he and Marceline finally caught up.

"She's good," Marshall Lee replied for her. "She's just really clumsy and kept tripping over roots so I'm carrying her instead of waiting for her to twist her ankle."

"First he wanted to turn me into a vampire," the blonde grumbled.

"Hey, fangs to yourself man," Finn warned, pointing a finger at Marshall Lee, his eyebrows drawn down over his nose. "I don't want to see any bite marks on her anywhere, we clear?"

"What if you don't see them?" Marshall Lee asked with a wide grin. "There are other places I can bite besides her neck or her wrist you know."

"Marshall Lee," Finn growled lowly.

"Relax, relax," the vampire laughed again. "I'm just teasing. I'm on a strict color red only diet, remember?"

Finn glared at the other boy, staring hard as though just looking would get the question burning behind his eyes answered, before he let out a sigh. "You're really not making this easy for me, are you?"

"Dude, you're with my sister," Marshall Lee answered. "And while I'm behind it 100 percent, I still have the right to make your life just a little bit more difficult if and when I choose."

"Hey!" Fionna protested, struggling in Marshall's arms with renewed vigor. "I'm not some object to be used!"

Marshall Lee just sighed and readjusted his hold on the squirming blonde so she was slung over his shoulder. "I thought I told you struggling was useless Kitten. Besides, I wasn't using you so much as taking advantage of your presence to totally mess with your brother."

"Whatever, you can put me down now," Fionna retorted, her legs kicking a bit as she struggled to get a grip on Marshall Lee's shoulder to try and push herself out of his hold.

"We can't have you tripping and getting yourself hurt Kitten," Marshall Lee chuckled in reply.

"I'm not some weak little princess," the young blonde protested. "I'm not going to break just because of a tree root!"

"She's got a point Marsh," Marceline said. "Fionna's made with the tough stuff. Remember, she was getting tossed around by that thing on the cruise airship and didn't even bat an eye."

"Oh all right. We're at that path the hunter was talking about anyway," the vampire boy sighed as he loosened his grip and let the struggling blonde push herself away from him. He had expected her to stumble at least a little bit, but instead she landed lightly on her feet, her hands fisted at her hips as she glared at him. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't the tiniest bit impressed with the grace and poise she always seemed to have.

"Finally," she said exasperatedly. "Thanks," she added to Marceline.

"Hey, us girls have got to stick together," the vampire girl grinned as she slung an arm across the blonde's shoulder and started to lead her along the path again. "It's the best defense against the collected stupid coming off of those two." Both girls only laughed at the protesting "Hey!" that came from the boys.

"So?" Finn questioned once the girls were out of hearing range.

"So what?" Marshall Lee replied, floating lazily along, arms crossed behind his head.

"Any particular reason you've taken special interest in my sister?" the blond boy pressed, hands stuffed in his pockets and his head tilted slightly to the side, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, you two are definitely related," Marshall Lee said after watching the other boy for a moment. "She gives me almost the exact same look when she's confused or trying to press me for more information. And anyway, I'm not taking any special interest in her."

"Dude, you talk to her more often than you've ever talked to Marce and me, you've given her a pet name, you have no problem carrying her around, you tease her almost mercilessly," Finn listed off, counting on his fingers as though to keep track of a long running list he had in his head. "You gave her one of your favorite hoodies."

"The girl had too much blue!" Marshall Lee protested the last point. "It was to add a splash of something different to her wardrobe!"

"It was still one of your favorites and I'm not even halfway done you know," Finn said, spearing the other boy with another look. "I could keep going for a while. Instead, I'll ask again, why the special interest?"

"She's easy to talk to," Marshall Lee finally answered, shrugging his shoulders and jamming his hands into his pockets as he shifted to float upright.

"I just don't want either of you to get hurt," Finn replied quietly. "After that whole thing with Ashley," he paused when the other boy hissed angrily and glared at him for a moment, eyes glowing an eerie red. "Well, Marce and I have been worried about you; you haven't opened up to people as easily as you used to," he finished, holding his hands up, palms facing the vampire.

"Are you saying you're little sister is capable of hurting someone on that level?" Marshall Lee asked, all traces of joking ease gone as a simmering, old anger bubbled beneath the surface.

"No, of course not," Finn quickly defended himself. "I don't think my sister is consciously capable of hurting anyone, especially not like that. But that doesn't mean she can't do it subconsciously." A sad smile pulled at the blond boy's face when his friend jerked his head towards him. "She's carrying a lot of pain inside. I don't know what happened, she hasn't told me and I'm not going to press, but whatever it was it's made her less likely to reach out to people. She goes through the motions, but even with us she still keeps a lot locked away. She could hurt someone without meaning to just by pulling away or flat out running to keep from letting people too far in." A dark look stole over Finn's face for a moment and even Marshall Lee floated away from him for a moment. "If I ever find who did that to her though, they're going to wish they'd never been born," he snarled.

"How do you know anyone did anything to her?" Marshall Lee asked when he thought the other boy had calmed down enough to talk to again.

"She's broken Marsh," Finn sighed. "And maybe it's my fault for not finding her sooner, but people don't get that broken all on their own."

_You have no idea_, Marshall Lee thought to himself, remembering the face of a scared little girl, tears painted silver on her cheeks in the moonlight, a pain of loss so deep in her eyes that it went further than worrying over a brother in the hospital. He remembered the broken, haunted look that had taken over her eyes for a moment and the dark anger that had swept through him at the people that had left her alone to suffer for so long. _Okay_, he admitted to himself with a soft sigh. _Maybe she is different, but that doesn't mean she's special_.

The group spent a good chunk of the rest of the day following broken slabs of concrete that cut a narrow path through the densely packed trees. At what they guessed was about midday they stopped briefly to rest and eat a quick meal before pushing on until the pervasive gloom of the Edge turned an almost inky black.

"All right, we should probably stop for the night," Marceline said after a while. "It's dark enough that I can barely see anything anymore."

"Should we light a fire?" Finn asked as he dropped to the ground with a relieved sigh.

"I haven't seen or heard anything that would suggest we shouldn't," Fionna replied as she sunk down beside her brother. "Not even any of the animals the hunters come in here for," she added with a frown, looking around for a moment as if one of the elusive creatures would suddenly appear.

"I vote yes to the fire then," the blond boy said as he forced himself to his feet and grabbed a bunch of branches and kindling from around the area. "I'd rather not eat cold rations if I don't have to."

The four of them quickly set up camp; which really consisted of picking out spots to spread out their sleeping bags and then putting together a fire pit. Dinner was a quick affair that consisted of a hodge-podge stew and some bread Finn had dug out of his rations pack. No one said much, all of their eyelids drooping from the long march of the day. It wasn't long after they finished eating that all four of them dropped off into dreamland, too tired and unconcerned with setting a watch.

Fionna came to with a groggy start, unsure what had woken her in the first place. She tried to reach up and rub the sleep induced fuzziness from her eyes but found her arms wouldn't move. Panic shot through her and her heart rate spiked, throbbing almost painfully in her chest. She tried to move an arm, a leg, hell even just a toe, but her body wouldn't obey and the young blonde was left straining against the prison her flesh had become for her mind. Only after she had forced her breathing to slow and her heart to stop its mad racing did she feel the slight prick of pain in her neck. She didn't have long to wonder what it was when hazy images floated in at the edges of her rapidly blurring vision.

"This one's awake," a voice said. "Odd too, she ain't one of the blood suckers."

"Who cares?" another voice answered testily. "Just stick another one in her and the toxin will knock her right out. Hey! What did I say about those two!" the voice called, turned away to yell at someone further away. "You've got to load them up with the toxin and we'll probably have to stick them a few more times before we get back to lock them up. Damn vampires," the second voice added as he turned back to face the first voice. "More trouble than they're worth. Why are her eyes still open? Stick her again and let's get going!"

Fionna felt a sharp jab pierce her neck and she had a brief moment of panic flare before her vision went completely black and her mind faded into nothingness.

Finn was the first one to wake up, followed quickly by Marceline. The vampire girl regained full use of her limbs quickly while the blond boy had to fight and struggle a bit before he was finally able to stumble to his feet. Marshall Lee woke up soon after, hissing and snarling insults at whoever had nabbed them, eyes glowing red as he looked around the dark pit the four of them had been thrown into.

"Where the hell are we?" the vampire boy demanded, eyes tracking up to pool of faint light at least fifty feet overhead.

"No idea, we've only been up and around for maybe five minutes," Finn answered, still bracing himself with one hand against the rough stone walls. "I'm thinking it might be a dry well though. It's kinda shaped like one."

"Hey guys, where's Fionna?" Marceline asked. "Fionna?"

A faint murmur had all three snapping their heads to a dark lump lying against the far wall. Marshall Lee was the first one to the blonde girl's side, carefully cradling her head as he checked her over.

"She's not hurt," he said at last. "At least not that I can see. Looks like whatever they knocked us out with they gave her a double dose of," he added, fingers brushing against two small puncture wounds; one at the juncture between her neck and shoulder and the other closer to her chin.

"M'ead 'urts," the blonde slurred, groaning slightly as her eyelids fluttered in a weak attempt to open. "Feel sick," she added softly.

"It's okay Fi," Finn tried to soothe his little sister. "We're here and you'll be fine."

"What happened?" Fionna asked, finally managing to open her eyes and lift her head up slightly to look around before letting it fall back into Marshall Lee's cradling arms.

"We're trying to figure that out ourselves," Marceline sighed. "We woke up here, figured out we'd been drugged cause Finn was stumbling around like a newborn, and that's about as far as we got before we tried looking for you."

"Looks like they got you twice," Marshall Lee added, his fingers ghosting over the wounds one more time, his anger growing black inside of him. "You'll probably be out of it for a little while."

"Voices," Fionna said softly.

"What?" Finn pressed as he leaned closer.

"I heard voices," Fionna replied and then frowned. "No, I woke up and then heard voices. I couldn't see, my vision was fuzzy, but they talked about keeping us all out and then stuck me with something and I was out again." She struggled to sit up again and barely managed to get to her elbows when she heard Marshall Lee sigh behind her and drag her upright, her back resting against his chest. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"No problem Kitten," Marshall Lee's voice resonated against Fionna's back. "I couldn't let my favorite little blonde flop around like a fish on dry land like that."

"I wasn't flopping around," Fionna huffed.

"All right children," Marceline interrupted, a smirk on her lips as she shot her brother a look. "Let's put the infighting aside and see if we can figure out where we are, shall we?"

"They had to have been watching us," Finn grumbled, glaring up at the faint circle of light overhead. "Whoever they are. How else would they have known we were all asleep?"

"They might have just stumbled on us," Marshall Lee pointed out. "The Edge is a big place and apparently there are more than just wild animals here."

"They knew you were vampires," Fionna replied thoughtfully as she tilted her head back to look up at Marshall Lee. "I heard them say they had to keep dosing you two in order to keep you out before they jabbed me again."

"Ogres?" Marceline asked, sticking her nose into the air and sniffing loudly. "Nah, smells too clean to be ogres."

"And it's still too close to the forest line for ogres," Finn pointed out. "They prefer being in the hearts of forests and swamps and stuff."

"Well, one way to find out," Marceline said as she started floating up towards the light. She reached the bars blocking her from freedom and carefully wrapped one hand around the cool metal. Her head had just barely pressed her face to the bars when she jerked back with a scream, pressing her hands to her face even as she plummeted back towards the ground. The sound of falling water had all three looking up to see clear drops of liquid chasing the vampire girl down.

Finn leapt to his feet almost immediately and braced himself to catch the falling girl, immediately gathering her close and leaping back from the water. "What the hell?" he barked, glaring up at the shadowy figure outlined in the light above. Every muscle was rigid and his jaw was locked tight as barely restrained fury burned in his eyes

"Stay down there," a voice answered harshly. "Come up here again and it'll be worse."

"You'll pay for this asshole," the blond boy snarled. "When I get out of here, you'll be the first one I come after."

"You're not going anywhere," the voice answered before the figure turned away and disappeared.

Finn let loose with a string of curses and promises of pain, each more creative than the last, until the rage melted from his face and he glanced down at the vampire girl in his arms. Her screaming had stopped, but muffled sobs laced with pained groans sounded from against his chest where she had pressed her face. "Marce?" he asked softly, shifting her gently in his arms as he settled back on the floor against the wall. "Marcy, what happened?"

"Blessed water," the vampire gasped, a shudder running through her system. "It hurts," she moaned.

"Let me see," Finn replied as he gently moved her hands from her face and tilted her head slightly into the light. "It's already healing," he told her, fingers tracing softly over the red marks that streaked down her face and hands.

"Still hurts," Marceline complained.

"I know," the blond answered. "Let's see if we can speed the healing up a bit, shall we?" Without another word, Finn let his eyes fall closed and tipped his head until his forehead rested on top of Marceline's. A soft glow began to build around the pair and as Fionna and Marshall Lee watched the angry red marks faded into a softer pink until they were practically gone.

"I have to admit, being soul bound has its nifty tricks," Marshall Lee commented lightly to the girl resting against him.

"It doesn't really seem like there's a downside," Fionna agreed.

"There's always a downside in everything," the vampire boy returned. "They're tied so closely that if one of them is threatened or hurt the other gets real pissed real fast."

"Is that a bad thing?" Fionna asked. "To care about another person so much that you don't want to see them hurt?"

"I suppose not," Marshall Lee shrugged, adjusting his hold on Fionna for a moment so he could lean more comfortably against the wall. "But it goes beyond that with them. Reasoning, strategy, nothing enters into their minds when the other one's down. All they care about is getting to each other and taking out any unlucky bastards that happen to be in their way. It's like their flight or fight responses kick in the second one of them gets hurt and it's always locked in fight mode."

Fionna just hummed in acknowledgement as she watched her brother and his bonded. The glow was fading now and with it all the marks on Marceline were disappearing. After a moment she shifted a bit on her own and found strength finally returning to her limbs. "Thanks," she told Marshall Lee as she pushed herself away to sit against the wall on her own. "I can keep myself up now."

Marshall Lee just let her go, unwrapping the arm that had somehow found its way to her waist, and tried to tell himself he did not miss the warmth the smaller blonde took with her when she moved away. He waited until both Finn and Marceline had their eyes open and looked alert before asking his questions.

"So what happened?" he asked.

"Exactly what it looked like," Marceline answered with a scowl on her lips. She sat up quickly and fit herself snuggly into Finn's arms, her back propped against his chest and his arms wrapped loosely around her waist. "I got up there, barely got a look, and some bastard dumped blessed water on me!"

"Why would blessed water do anything?" Fionna questioned, her head tilted to the side. "I thought that only worked on demons."

"We're technically half demon," Marshall Lee answered. "Our dad's the Demon Lord of the Night O'Sphere."

"Wait, then how are you vampires?" the blonde girl pressed. "I didn't think demons and vampires could mix."

"They can't, at least not usually," Marceline replied. "Our mother was human, but she died when we were still young. We were half human, half demon and no one wanted us because we were a mixed breed. We got fed up with it after a while, but we were pissed with our dad so we didn't want to go full demon. We found some vampires, got ourselves turned, then took control of the vampire court. After that got old we started wandering around the world."

"So how are we getting out of here?" Marshall Lee asked, staring at the puddle that had formed in the middle of the floor. "Marce and I can't get anywhere near that junk and the two of you can't get up there," he said, motioning between the two blond siblings.

"What if we could?" Fionna questioned softly, her eyes on the light and interlocked metal bars overhead.

"No offense Kitten, but I don't think you or Finn could get up there," Marshall Lee replied with a shake of his head. "In fact, unless you've been keeping something from us, I know for sure Finn can't get up there."

"Hey!" the blond boy protested. "I'm a great climber!"

"Being able to climb has nothing to do with it," Marshall Lee returned. "The walls have been worn almost smooth, which means no hand-holds or foot-holds for you. So unless you can float, you're not getting up there."

"We don't have to," Fionna interrupted. "You can float up there," she added, turning to Marshall Lee.

"Except I'll end up like Marce," he replied with a gesture towards his sister. "Except worse probably cause the first time was a warning shot, so to speak, and I don't have anyone to help patch me up when I get splashed."

"Not necessarily," Fionna shook her head. "You can't touch the bars or get any of the water on your skin, right? So what if you floated me up there? It won't matter if I get some blessed water thrown on me so I can see about getting that gate open and then we can get out of here."

"And if they see you and throw some water in?" Marshall Lee pressed. "It won't matter if I'm not touching the bars, I'll still get splashed."

"Then we wait until dark and they're asleep," Fionna shrugged.

"Good as plan as any I suppose," Marshall Lee agreed. "I can't think of any other options anyway."

"So now that we've figured that out, anyone else wondering how they knew blessed water would work?" Finn questioned with a motion between Marshall Lee and Marceline. "Neither of you look like demons and everyone knows that blessed water doesn't work on vampires."

"More and more questions and less and less answers," Marceline replied. "I think we're just going to have to wait and see."

It seemed that it took an eternity for the light to fade away and darkness take its place. Throughout the day water was continually dumped over the bars which kept the two demi-demon vampires practically against the walls. "Just in case you get ideas," a voice had growled down at them at one point, though no one had said anything to them since. When night finally fell they waited for hours longer before Marshall Lee quietly scooped Fionna up into his arms and floated them towards the bars overhead.

He eyed a drop of water distrustfully, glaring at the moisture clinging to the metal, and backed away.

"I can't do anything if I'm not close enough to the bars to find the lock," Fionna whispered to him.

"And I'm not going to be able to do anything if any of that gets on me," Marshall Lee retorted. "I don't think you'd like a fifty foot fall Kitten."

"Cats always land on their feet," the blonde replied dismissively. "Now seriously, get me in closer."

Marshall Lee only sighed in response but obediently floated closer to the bars. They were quiet for a long heartbeat, listening to the sounds around them, before Fionna quietly slipped her hands through the gaps in the bars and tried to find the lock. When she finally located the device she pulled her hands back in and felt along the seam of her hoodie.

"Gotcha," she whispered softly as she pulled two, thin metal needles from inside the hem.

"You've just got fun stuff hidden all over, don't you?" Marshall Lee chuckled softly. "And where, may I ask, did you learn to pick locks?"

"I broke my leg once when I was younger," Fionna answered absently, her attention focused on manipulating her lock picks. "I was stuck in bed for weeks with nothing better to do so I taught myself to pick locks. It's harder when I can't see what I'm doing," she added with a slight pout. She grumbled a few more words under her breath until, finally, there was a soft click and a large grin replaced her frown. "And we're out," she said, turning to smile at Marshall Lee.

"Almost," the vampire nodded. "Hold onto the bars, tight. Whatever you do, don't let go."

Curious, but figuring it wasn't worth arguing over, Fionna grabbed the bars with both hands and had to suppress a yelp when Marshall Lee started floating upwards. Figuring out what he was doing, she kept her arms straight and her elbows locked while the vampire moved them up and over until she could gently lay the grate open on the grass. A quick look told them there were on a grassy hill, trees surrounding them on all side but one. Once they were clear, Marceline and Finn came out right behind them.

"Hang on," Finn called quietly before the other three could take off. Silently, he moved the grate back in place until the lock clicked. "Hopefully that'll buy us some time."

"I'm hoping to be long gone before anyone even knows we've left," Marshall Lee replied.

"We've got to find our stuff first," Marceline pointed out.

"Uh, guys?" Fionna said, pointing down the only open side of the small hill. "That might be a bit of a problem." She felt the others cluster around her but didn't say another word.

"Well damn," Marshall Lee sighed.

"On the bright side, we may have found where the Hidden Library is," Finn replied looking out at the town below them. It was old, most of the buildings crumbling away, and the look of the architecture placed it from before the Mushroom War. It seemed to wrap around that whole side of the hill and extend another six miles deeper into the Edge at least.

"Yeah, but now we'll need to find a library in there," Marceline said, gesturing to the spread of buildings. "All right, teams of two?"

"Probably the only thing we can do," Marshall Lee agreed. "Come on then Kitten; let's see if we can find our stuff."

The two groups made their way down the hill and split, stalking silently through the quiet town streets. Finn and Marceline took off to the right, keeping to the shadows and moving quickly.

"I don't hear anything," Marceline whispered as she and Finn stood outside yet another storehouse door, her ear pressed to the wooden surface.

"All right then," Finn whispered back, pulling his leg back to kick the door down.

"Wait," Marceline hissed. "We don't want to make any noise. Hang on a second," she added as she glanced up to a row of broken windows up above. She took one last look around and floated up, quickly disappearing into the building. A few seconds later the door creaked open and Finn squeezed inside.

"I didn't see anything," the vampire girl informed him. "But I didn't really look that hard either."

After ten minutes of combing through yet another stack of canned food supplies, Finn groaned and kicked at the nearest crate, sending it skidding across the floor and into the opposite wall. "This is the fourth building we've checked and our stuff isn't here. I really hope Marshall Lee and Fionna are having better luck than we are."

"Nothing to do but move on to the next building," Marceline replied as she floated over and grabbed both of Finn's hands, hauling him to his feet. "Come on then hero boy, no point in getting discouraged yet," she added, leaning in to press a quick peck to his lips. "Now let's get back to searching. Can you imagine how smug Marshall Lee will be if he finds our stuff first?"

"True," Finn grinned in response. "All right, next building it is!"

Almost across town, Fionna and Marshall Lee weren't faring any better. In fact, it could be argued that their luck was much, much worse. Currently the pair had all but stuffed themselves into the darkest corner of a back alley, waiting for the sound of footsteps to fade.

"Of course we'd choose the side of town with guards patrolling," Marshall Lee grumbled.

"Shh!" Fionna reprimanded sharply. "I'm trying to listen."

"He's about two feet to the left of the alley entrance," the pale boy whispered back. "Oh come on, really? The asshat just stopped for some reason!"

"Maybe it's cause you keep talking!" Fionna grumbled. "So shut it!"

Marshall Lee shot her a caustic glare but promptly stopped talking anyway. For a tense few moments neither of them could hear anything and then finally the guard started walking off once more. Motioning for her to wait where she was, Marshall Lee floated up a little higher and carefully made his way to the end of the alley. Fionna watched him closely and silently slipped through the shadows to his side when he beckoned her closer.

"All right, we're good for now, I don't see or hear anyone else," the vampire told her.

"Not that it really matters," Fionna told him. "So far all we've seen have been houses."

"We'll find something soon Kitten, relax," Marshall Lee told the girl, smirking over his shoulder at her before reaching back and ruffling her hair a bit, only laughing when she scowled up at him.

Suddenly Fionna stiffened, glancing around, and a second later the sound of rushed footsteps reached Marshall Lee's pointed ears. He didn't have time to question that she knew a split second before he did as he scooped the younger blonde up into his arms and flew as fast as he could away from the sound.

"Let's hope Finn and Marce are doing better, huh?" he asked as he flew away. "Cause I think we're going to be on the run."

"You there! Halt!" a voice rang out behind them.

"Ooops, guess we weren't quiet enough," Marshall Lee chuckled. "Hold on tight Kitten!"

The vampire didn't even bother to look back as he sped away, only watching where he was going as he wove in and out of alleys and streets. "Well shit," he suddenly growled as he came to an abrupt stop. He hissed slightly as more soldiers came pouring out through a side street. "Damn buggers."

Marshall Lee quickly spun around and sped off towards the city center, the only path open to him at this point.

"We're probably being herded into a trap, you know that right?" Fionna asked as she instinctively reached for the crystal on her leg, only to growl lowly when she met with air.

"Most likely," Marshall Lee agreed. "But there's not much else we can do. I mean sure, I could take on these guys, but you're kind of weaponless at the moment Kitten. I know, I know," he added quickly. "You can take care of yourself. But it might be a lot easier on you if you had a weapon"

"Looks like you've been having fun too," Finn suddenly called as he and Marceline came running up on their right.

"And it looks like you've got your own fan club following you," Marshall Lee observed.

"Yeah, wouldn't you know it?" Marceline laughed. "They found us when we were ransacking a storage house. Apparently that's not something these people tolerate here."

"Anyone know who or what these guys even are?" Fionna demanded.

"Not a clue; their stupid helmets keep their faces hidden," Finn answered promptly.

Sure enough, when Fionna glanced over Marshall Lee's shoulder, she saw scores of people, all humanoid in shape, chasing after them and all of their faces hidden behind dark green, visored helmets. Their armor looked vaguely like leaves and all of them carried light spears with shining silver tips. A couple carried quivers full of white fletched arrows and as she watched a few archers dropped back, unslinging their bows and taking aim.

"Uh, guys?" she said, keeping her eyes on the archers. "You might want to pick it up a bit. They've got archers and they're lining up their shots."

"Damnit!" Marshall Lee cursed when a shaft narrowly missed his right shoulder.

"In there!" Finn yelled, pointing to a large building looming in front of them.

"Not exactly a defendable position," Marceline replied skeptically.

"Better than staying out here and getting turned into pincushions though," Fionna replied as she practically launched herself from Marshall Lee's arms and through heavy, solid wood doors. The other three crammed in right behind her and immediately went to work grabbing everything in sight to barricade the entrance.

"You wanna help us out Fi?" Finn asked as he dragged a heavy metal bench in front of the doors. He turned back to look for his sister and saw her standing at the top of a set of stairs right behind them.

"You might want to come look at this," the blonde girl answered instead as she pointed down the stairs, looking back over her shoulder at her three companions.

"Please tell me we didn't stumble onto more fans," Marceline groaned as she floated over, only to stop dead and stare as well.

"Well, what do you know," Marshall Lee said as he came up beside the girls. "They chased us right to it."

"Yeah," Finn agreed, looking out at the rows and rows of books spread out on shelves below them. "Now we just need to find one book in all of this."

"One book that we don't know the title of, or what it even looks like, while an army of angry whatevers are gathering outside," Fionna sighed.

"Well, when you put it that way, it should be a piece of cake," Marshall Lee grinned sardonically.

A loud thump on the door behind them had all four turning to eye the doors warily for a moment.

"Well, better get started then," Finn said. "The sooner we find what we came for the sooner we can get out of here. Okay, maybe get out of here," he added when another loud bang had him glancing at the doors once more.

* * *

**AN2**: Well, there you go! I hope you all enjoyed chapter six and don't forget to leave me a review!


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